Fantasy & Sci-fi Lovin' Book Reviews

Book Review: Sly Mongoose by Tobias S. Buckell

2008-07-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Chilo, a planet with corrosive rain, crushing pressure, and deadly heat. Fortunately, fourteen-year-old Timas lives in one of the domed cities that float 100,000 feet above the surface, circling near the edge of a monstrous perpetual storm. Above the acidic clouds the temperature and pressure are normal. But to make a living, Timas, like many other young men, is lowered to the surface in an armored suit to scavenge what he can.
Timas' life is turned upside down when a strange man crash lands on the city. The newcomer is fleeing an alien intelligence intent on invading the planet and discovering the secret hidden deep inside the perpetual storm--a secret that could lead to interplanetary war.
As the invaded cities fall silent one by one, Chilo's citizens must race against time to stop the enemy. And Timas will find out what kind of man he has become in the harsh conditions of Chilo's surface.
--Synopsis from the cover of Sly Mongoose

First came Crystal Rain, hailed as the first, if not the only Caribbean Steampunk novel.

Then came Ragamuffin, a Caribbean Space Opera.

Now we have Sly Mongoose, which throws the two together with something new and likely never done (at least not seriously): Zombies...in space.

That's right, Tobias S. Buckell has managed to write a killer science fiction novel (no pun intended) with zombies! Why are you still reading this? Go! Buy it. Now! It's on pre-order at Amazon. Yes, this is the coolest thing you have ever heard of. Yes, this is better than watching Star Trek re-runs or drooling over Battlestar Galactica. This may even be better than Star Wars, and for me to say that is like committing heresy.

Tobias has outdone himself here (and I'm not even sure what that phrase means). His first novel was a good novel and his second was even better, but this third novel is superb. This is what all the great science fiction from back in the day was about: high suspense adventure, fantastic and interesting characters and intriguing ideas. This is part of a new "tradition" it seems, a tradition which hearkens back to the days we so fondly remember in science fiction's glorious history. Space opera, adventure, fast-paced fight scenes (even the ones with the cripple), space ships, evil inhuman monstrosities, and even a little romance; it's all there, teasing you, tickling your senses, making you squeal with delight. Okay, maybe that's far fetched, but I squealed, especially when the first page of the book told me that Pepper was back!

Sly Mongoose is Tobias' best work to date. It's suspenseful, brilliantly devised, and an example of his excellent world building skills. Here we have Chilo, a world that most of us would pass off as uninhabitable. But Chilo is inhabited: flying cities, balloon ships, and the like. There are also two really fascinating cultures that inhabit Chilo: the Aeolians (a collective mind in their own right, who are all connected through a wireless network so they can vote on the consensus) and the people of Yatapek (who happen to be descended from certain folks we might remember from one of Tobias' other novels). It's one thing to make a world and add in a culture, but it's another thing entirely to create two distinct cultures on a planet that is mostly uninhabitable. I'll leave their eccentricities as a mystery, because you should be reading this book, not salivating over this small, bite-sized sample. These elements serve to solidify and validate the realistic nature of this world--and perhaps gives us a glimpse into what could possibly be done on our own greenhouse infested sister planet.

Then comes the zombies. They were creepy, but not too creepy. Just enough of that creep factor to keep you wanting more, but without making you uncomfortable (zombies can do that, after all). Apparently throwing Pepper into a room full of zombies is not a good idea for anyone. Seriously. Don't do it. Pepper gets mad, and when Pepper's mad he blows things up and kills things. It's not pretty.

The only thing that might be considered a flaw with Sly Mongoose is it's limited view of Tobias' universe. Crystal Rain was relatively limited, and then Ragamuffin took us off planet and into the wild universe Tobias had created. Now we're back to a single world again. I personally wouldn't consider this a flaw, mostly because Tobias has made this new world engaging and fascinating, surrounded by a gripping story. Throw in the fact that Pepper, in all his augmented glory, is there as one of the main characters and you're pretty much left with a book that is pure awesome. I do see the argument, but I think it's nitpicking when the novel itself is quite stunning in its own right. There's a reason why Tobias' novels are stand-alone: they should be treated as separate creations.

Sly Mongoose is a movie in the making. It takes us on a wild ride filled with horror, action, and a load of other equally positive and reinforcing words. Already this book is on my "Best of 2008" list, and certainly will be a favorite of mine unless I get too old to remember what it's about (hopefully that won't happen). I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think anyone who likes the good, old-fashioned excitement of action-packed science fiction should give this book a shot.

Now I'll leave you with this: Pepper + robotic carapace = cool cyborg-ish thing.

Book Giveaway! House of Whispers by Margaret Lucke

2008-07-23T01:25:00.000-07:00

I know I'm overdue for a giveaway. I also know I've been hoarding titles I've gotten from Juno Books.

I don't mean to be selfish. Really. But I have to say, I've had really good luck with Juno so far. I'm sure not every book will be a home-run, but they've been very consistent up to now.

But as my pile grows I realize that I can't get to every book in a timely fashion. Lucky for you.

So I'm going to pass on House of Whispers by Margaret Lucke to a lucky winner. Reluctantly.

From the back of the book:
Claire Scanlan is launching a new life and a new career in real estate. She has a chance to sell a spectacular house but, as the site of a mass murder, the property is not attracting buyers. When Ben Grant, the handsome brother of one of the murder victims, shows her the empty house Claire experiences strange sensations that are both fascinating and repellent. Claire is also fascinated (and not at all repelled) by Ben Grant. But if Claire accepts her new-found paranormal power as real, she must also accept the responsibility for solving a bloody crime--even though Ben seems to be a prime suspect.

"A suspenseful, intriguing first entry in an innovative new series. Lucke is an exceptional writer." -- Marcia Muller, national bestselling author of the Sharon McCone series

The rules are the same as usual. To enter, either leave a comment here or send me an email at sqt1969(at)gmail(dot)com under the header "whispers." Be sure I can reach you easily. If I cannot reach the winner within 48 hours I will pass the book onto another entrant. I will randomly pick a winner on Wednesday July 30th. Open to everyone.

Good luck!

Book Review: Foundling, by D.M. Cornish

2008-07-21T11:49:00.001-07:00

Hello, all! I’m new here so it might take me a couple reviews before I really get the swing of things. That being said – thanks to SMD for passing along this book to me and to everyone else for the chance to do this! I hope I don’t disappoint.

Foundling, by D.M. Cornish, begins a planned trilogy called Monster Blood Tattoo published by the Penguin Group. D.M. Cornish has created a world called the Half-Continent that’s almost as rich and complex as anything by J.R.R. Tolkein or Frank Herbert, however it doesn’t read like anything quite so fantastical. This work is rooted in period maritime romances (not in the lovey dovey romance sort of way either) like Treasure Island or the Horatio Hornblower adventures – all without ever going out to sea! The feel is entirely Victorian; from the detailed maps and the extensive “Explicarium” (over a hundred pages!), to the heavy cover and parchment-like pages, this book just screams rousing adventure and it does not disappoint.

“Rossamünd was a boy with a girl’s name.” Thus begins D.M. Cornish’s debut novel following the adventures of the titular Foundling. What unfolds in the pages of this book have a great deal to do with that first line. Rossamünd Bookchild is not exactly girly, per se, but he is the sensitive sort: trusting, naïve, and almost unerringly polite. These qualities make him endearing to most of the people he meets, aside from a few monsters. However, the monsters aren’t exactly whom you might expect them to be. Cornish created the perfect awkward coming-of-age tale, in which a boy discovers that the monsters we are taught to fear are not necessarily the monsters that we should fear.

Rossamünd was left on the doorstep of Madam Opera’s Estimable Marine Society as a baby, but has reached an age when it is time to be chosen for a respectable career. Though he has dreamed of becoming a “Vinegaroon” (the term for navy men who sail the Vinegar seas) all his life, he is enlisted by the Lamplighters whose job it is to light the lamps (obviously) on the Wormway. A few things hint that he is no ordinary Foundling, from the circumstances of his discovery to the seemingly unusual kinship he has with the Dormitory Master, Fransitart, of Madam Opera’s Foundlingery. These subtle intonations, his practically Dickensian orphan status, and his shy bookishness make him an easy hero for a young adult fiction. Rossamünd’s journeys takes him from the steps of the Foundlingery to his new home at Winstermill, but let’s just say he has a few missteps along the way (or rather just one really big one). Through his adventures he meets some incredibly colorful characters, whose detail is augmented by the fantastic sketches of the author himself (who began his career as an illustrator).

Foundling is a compelling romp through a rich landscape. It is easy to empathize with Rossamünd even when he does something silly. The occasional use of (what I think is) Latin and other exotic terms creates an adventure within the adventure – I’ve never met a definition I didn’t like and I found myself looking things up with as much (or more) frequency as Rossamünd does in an almanac he carries around with him. Aside from a few marginally flat characters that left me wanting more, my only complaint is that I can’t read the follow-up novel, Lamplighter, until I go buy it. Cornish’s prose easily flows off the page, and sets just the right tone for its young adult audience. The use of thick accents for many of the characters and the frequent unfamiliar terms may prove difficult to a younger reader, but add appropriate authenticity to the world of the Half-Continent. D.M. Cornish has written a novel that is perfect parts adventure and heart that is an amazingly satisfying read. Foundling is a book you shouldn’t miss.

Book Review (sort of): First Mother's Fire by W. L. Hoffman

2008-07-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

It took me a while to figure out what to do about this. I mulled over it for several weeks, trying to consider all the different ways I could deal with this. The decision, obviously, is that I'm going to talk about this book because that's what I'm supposed to do.
Very rarely do I drop a book completely. It takes a lot to really irk me enough to drop something and most of the time when I do drop a book I make plans to go back to it again to see if it grows on me (perhaps I wasn't into the book because I was too stressed, or the story wasn't what I was prepared to read at the time).
Hoffman's first book in The Soulstealer War series (called The First Mother's Fire) is a self-published novel that looked like it had a lot of potential. I've agreed to take self-published novels under the condition that such novels will be read the same as any other novel from a legit press, which is why I'm talking about Hoffman's novel today.
The novel follows Kenneth McNary, a recent college graduate who has decided to head off to the Appalachian Trail for some hiking. On his hike he discovers a strange pool hiding in the brush, which turns out to be magical and, well, beyond that I don't know. You get a glimpse in the prologue of another world where things are going bad, and according to the synopsis on the back, that's where he ends up. But, I couldn't finish it. It was too much for me.
The problems with Hoffman's novel stem from poor style, poor characterization, and poor plotting. I'm trying not to be mean about this, because I get the impression that he put a lot of work into this book. The cover is beautiful and the book itself is put together very well. But it's a difficult read. Not too long into the book I already hated the main character, not because he was a bad guy, but because he was annoying. Kenneth periodically goes on random rants about, well, just about anything so long as it sounds intelligent (philosophy, history, etc.). He not only does this in thoughts (italics), but also in dialogue, even though he's the only person out on the trail. He talks to himself, to the trees, etc. in a manner that is loaded with relatively pointless information. If Kenneth is wondering why the trees are the way they are, then just say that he's wondering and move on. We don't really need a history lesson or to listen to Kenneth talk to himself about how he's curious about the trees.
Additionally, the narration follows a similar pattern, delving into Kenneth's past to bring forth things that are just as useless. Almost nothing happens and by the time something "interesting" happened I just didn't care anymore--not to mention that it shouldn't have taken so long for something "interesting" to happen anyway (where's the hook?). I was so irritated by Kenneth and his random rants that there was no point in continuing (and I sort of wished he would just die so the author could give us someone more interesting and less annoying).
There are also huge problems with the story. From what I read it all sounded like rehashes of stories that followed Tolkien's success with LOTR. Maybe it becomes more "original" later in the novel, but again, I couldn't get through it. The prologue suffers from "old speak" or "ancient speak" or whatever you want to call it when an author has characters who talk like they just graduated from 15th century nobility school. The result is that the whole opening chunk feels very antiquated.
Again, the novel looks beautiful. The art must have cost Hoffman a fortune, but what's inside is what counts. What's inside is not nearly as lovely as what's outside. And that's all I can really say about this.

More Free Book Goodness

2008-07-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

I just got the heads up that there is a giveaway at MentatJack (a new blog discovery for me...) for 2 sets of T.A. Pratt's Marla Mason series (Blood Engines and Poison Sleep) I haven't read either one of these but I've heard good things about them. Be sure to head on over and enter.

The Book Swede has also got a contest going on. He's giving away three signed copies of The Tower of Shadows by Drew Bowling.

If you haven't already, be sure to head over to Sci-Fi Chick and enter to win a copy of Dragonforge by James Maxey. She's picking a winner for that tomorrow.

Book Review: Invisible Prey by John Sandford

2008-07-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

Coombs had parked on the street. She got a bag and a bottle of Summer Sunrise Herbal Tea from her salt-rotted Chevy Cavalier and carried it over to the Porsche. The Porsche, she said, as she buckled in, was a "nice little car," and asked if he'd ever driven a Corolla, "which is sorta like this. My girlfriend has one."

"That's great," Lucas said, as they eased into traffic.

She nodded. "It's nice when people drive small cars. It's ecologically sensitive." Lucas accelerated hard enough to snap her neck, but she didn't seem to notice. Instead, she looked around, fiddling with her bottle of tea. "Where're the cup holders?"

"They left them off," Lucas said, not moving his jaw.

Halfway to Grandma's house, she said, "I drove a stick shift in Nepal."

"Nepal?"

"Yeah. A Kia. Have you ever driven a Kia?"

Being a detective, Lucas began to suspect that Gabriella Coombs, guileless as her cornflower eyes might have been, was fucking with him.

~Excerpt from Invisible Prey by John Sandford

Following the trend of my last review, I recently read another book not on my review list. Whenever I get bogged down in one genre, like I have been lately, I like to pick up something different and my usual choices run to detective novels. John Sandford has been a favorite of mine for years. Mostly I read his Prey novels, which I believe has eighteen in the series now, the first of which was published in 1989.

The Prey novels (the titles always have the word "Prey" in them) are about Lucas Davenport, a man who started out as a Detective with the Minneapolis Police Department but has since worked his way up the ladder to an appointment as an Investigator for the Minneapolis Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCI) working directly for the Governor.

Davenport is your basic tough guy investigator-- at least typical of novels of this kind. But at this stage of the game he's an aging tough guy. He still has the ability to intimidate but it doesn't come so easily anymore. In Invisible Prey, Davenport investigates the murder of an elderly woman and her housekeeper in the richest neighborhood of Minneapolis. At first the crime appears to be random, but as different pieces begin to fit into place the crime turns out to be much larger than it first seemed. In fact, Lucas has a political hot-potato on his hands while he's trying to investigate the case and most of his attention is focused on that until it becomes apparent that more murders are linked to the case.

The most interesting thing to me about this novel wasn't so much the detective story-- it wasn't that unique as far as a Sandford novel goes. No, the interesting part was the character development of Davenport. When the first Prey novels were published, Lucas was a tough guy who was known as something of a womanizer-- again, not unusual for a detective novel. But there was always something likable about him. Now, he's older, married, has kids and he's a little tired-- and I like that. I really appreciate that Sandford brings that kind of realism to the character.

Another really strong point to Sandford's writing is his touch with dialogue. I love the conversations Davenport has with the people he meets in the book (like the excerpt above). Each character he runs into has a distinct personality and it comes across very convicingly. In a book of this nature, when the main character has to interact with lots of different people, dialogue is hugely important and I think Sandford nails it better than most.

As far as the plot-line of the book, it's not bad, but I wouldn't say it's one of his best. On the other hand, it still beats most of the other stuff you're going to find on the shelf IMO. The plot was a tiny bit convoluted at times and if you haven't read a Prey book in over a year, like me, you tend to forget who's who. Nonetheless it's still a fast enjoyable read and if you've already read, and enjoyed any of the Prey books, you're likely to like this one. If you haven't read any of the Prey books, and you like detective novels, I suggest you start from the beginning, since they are chronological, and give the series a try. Unlike some other best-selling authors (James Patterson comes to mind) Sandford hasn't lost his touch and the Prey books continue to be one of the most consistent series' out there.

Tagged... And I'm It

2008-07-15T00:38:00.000-07:00

I am so bad. I was tagged by ThRiNiDiR about a month ago and I still haven't responded. I am horrible with memes. Half the time, I forget to them altogether and the rest of the time I break the rules by not tagging anyone. So, as usual, I'll do the first part of the meme and disregard the rest.

Grab the nearest book and turn to page 123. Write down the fifth sentence, post it, and then tag 5 others to do this.

Right now I'm reading The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu...

Dizziness cut.

That's it. Two words.

Like most memes, this one has been making the rounds and I'm not sure who hasn't done this one. If you have not, consider yourself tagged (if you like). I'd also like to suggest Harry and Shaun as tagged if they haven't been tagged already.

Wow. I didn't totally break the rules...

Book Review: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

2008-07-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

~Read excerpt HERE

The Lies of Locke Lamora is a book that has been out since 2006 and has received tons of hype since then. So why am I reviewing it now?

I have had a heck of a time with my reviews lately. I must have tried to read 15 books and put each one down by the time I hit 50 pages. It's not that the books are bad-- well, maybe one-- it's just that when I read so many books of the same genre for review, it's hard to find something that distinguishes itself.

What I'll often do, when I hit the wall reviewing-wise, I'll pick up a book that I don't have to review. Sometimes it will be in the fantasy/sci-fi genre, sometimes it won't. "The Lies of Locke Lamora" is a book that I've had sitting on my shelf for over a year and never read. I've picked it up a couple of times but always put it down in favor of books I just had to read.

Not this time.

Let me just say this, Scott Lynch does not need me to gush about his book. The reviews he has received have been nothing less than stellar. He has recommendations on his book by George R.R. Martin, Kate Elliott, Richard Morgan, Elizabeth Bear, Hal Duncan as well as many respected publications.

Does he deserve all the hype? In a word, yes.

"The Lies of Locke Lamora" is about a young thief. Locke is such a skilled deceiver that he earns a death mark as a child. Sold to Father Chains, a thief who masquerades as a blind priest, Locke is raised to be a Gentleman Bastard. The Gentleman Bastards are a group of thieves, raised by Chains, who are trained to emulate the noble classes of Camorr and steal huge sums of money from them. The only problem is that by stealing from the nobles, the Gentleman Bastards violate the secret peace of Camorr and risk violent retribution from Capa Barsavi, who rules over the thieves of Camorr.

But Locke, now personally known as the Thorn of Camorr, and his gang continue to steal from the nobles and amass huge sums of money, until The Gray King appears. The Gray King decides to make a play for Capa Barsavi's power and Locke ends up caught in the middle of a big, bloody power struggle.

I have read lots of descriptions that compare "The Lies of Locke Lamora" to "Oceans Eleven" or "Robin Hood." But I tend to think that only works if you put the guys from "Ocean's Eleven" in the middle of a mob war. While this book does have its humorous moments, I wouldn't characterize Locke and his gang as being cute-- which is how I think of the characters in "Ocean's Eleven." In fact, most of the time Locke and his friends are barely keeping their heads above water. The Gray King is a power to be reckoned with and The Gentleman Bastards soon find themselves out of their depth. After being set up by The Gray King, with disastrous consequences, Locke ends up on mission of revenge. The plot twists and turns, with lots of bloody action, until we find out what The Gray King's real motivation is.

For those of you who like to know the magic system in a book, this one mixes magic and alchemy to great effect. Neither Locke nor any of his group practice magic, though they come up against some magic in the war between The Gray King and Capa Barsavi. Mostly Locke and his gang use alchemical devices in their disguises; just as alchemy pops up in virtually every aspect of daily life in Camorr.

This is one of those books that was a lot like watching a suspenseful movie for me. I found that I had to put the book down a lot because the story was so tense. I actually worried about Locke! For me, that's a sign of a great writer. I never felt I could take anything for granted. I really didn't know if things would turn out well for Locke or any of the main characters. The book moves at a fast pace with tons of action. You barely have a chance to catch your breath before Lynch thrusts you into another hectic sequence.

If I could find a complaint, and there isn't much to complain about, it might be that Locke spends more of his time getting his butt kicked by The Gray King than he does pulling off his cons. But that complaint doesn't even work because if there is a theme for the book it would be that no one is above getting hoisted by their own petard, and Locke's struggles fit into that theme nicely. The pacing and the plotting of the book are so deftly done that I still can't believe this is a debut novel. It is one impressive piece of work.

I finished this book almost regretfully because it was such a satisfying read. The world-building in first rate and the complexity of the story is made all the more amazing by Lynch's ability to put it all together. The only caveat I might have for anyone inclined to pick up the book is that it is violent, profane and not your typical everyone lives happily ever after book. But then, why would you want anything different?

I already have a copy of the sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies and I plan on losing myself in this one very soon.

Book Review: The Viper of Portello by James C. Glass

2008-07-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

James C. Glass won the grand prize in the Writers of the Future Contest in 1990 and has since gone on to publish dozens of short stories and several novels. Now comes The Viper of Portello, a new novel from Fairwood Press with a bit of a Central/South American flare.

Eduardo is a soldier in charge of Zed Force, a special ops unit from Nova Brasilia. But when a mission on Colomba, a jungle world, ends up in the betrayal of he and his men by another military officer, Eduardo finds himself suddenly commissioned as an assassin for the League, hunting down the people responsible. The war on drugs, it seems, is only just beginning and people higher up than expected are part of it. And there are other secrets that Eduardo will have to find out...secrets that could drastically change who he trusts.

Glass' novel is a fast paced military thriller centered in a somewhat illusive universe. I say illusive because I wasn't sure where it was. Earth isn't mentioned, so either Earth has become some other planet or Glass isn't working within our Solar System. I think on the one hand this is a good thing, but on the other hand it left me wanting more. I want to know where this is. Maybe I missed it, or maybe Glass is working on a whole different universe. If so, I want more in this universe!

In any case, the universe Glass has created reminds me very much of a futuristic Mexico or Central America, with a little South America thrown in there too. This isn't just in the names of the characters, but also in the way the world is built--drug cartels, etc. (and this is in no way an attack on said parts of the world, but it can't be denied that such things like drug cartels are linked to those areas). This is probably the only SF novel I have ever read with such a strong Hispanic influence and, well, it works. Glass' characters have depth--particularly Eduardo, who does deal more with the difficult issues of the piece--and the bad guys are really fascinating. I always find it interesting when authors attempt to give characters who are somewhat ambiguous. Here the bad guys are bad, but at the same time they are very "human"--and I use that word very lightly. Certain characters, who shall remain nameless so I don't ruin the book for you, actually have horrible reactions to what they have done, while others have become evil from no fault of their own (in fact, they became "evil" due to the actions of other evil characters). The result is that, for some of these bad characters, I sympathized with them, understanding why they are the way they are, even though I don't agree with what they are doing.

The plot itself moves relatively quickly, which is probably a good thing for a novel like this. A slower novel would have dragged. One complaint is that Glass doesn't give me enough of the world/s. I wanted to know more about where this was, how it was created, etc. I understand that we all don't want authors to infodump, but I am very curious about Glass' fictional universe. Perhaps Glass will write more novels written in this universe (or already has), which could give us a wider view of the universe as a whole. As is, the novel does work without the additional information, but at the end you do want to know more. Another complaint would be that there comes a point where Glass goes into the head of several characters who aren't really main characters, and a little late in the story. While I understood the reason for doing this, I feel like it pulled us a little too far from who we should have been focusing on (Eduardo and a couple other characters). Perhaps it could have been done differently. The good news is that Glass only does it a couple times and not consistently throughout the story or even semi-consistently. If he had done it consistently, this story would have been very different, and if he had done it semi-consistently, the story would have fallen apart (mostly because when you try to get the reader to be interested in ten different characters, and give each of those characters the same page space, well, it just doesn't work).

Another good point of Glass' novel is that it adequately deals with the issues of being a "killer". With Eduardo becoming an assassin, he has to, in a way, become another person, and even that is jarring to the psyche. His reactions aren't dark or brooding, even though he has to be somewhat cold to do his job. Instead, he has real nightmares and real concerns over what will become of him and those around him as he does what he is supposed to do. I think something about that is rather fascinating. Often times we think of assassins as bad guys, or at least purely cold or cynical. It's perhaps, to some extent, a little unusual to consider that an assassin may just be someone like us: relatively normal people pulled into a violent and immoral act to secure justice.

Overall, Glass' novel is a fast military romp, with some political intrigue and romance thrown in the mix. It benefits from a solid writing style (one that doesn't get in the way) and sympathetic characters. If you're looking for a military adventure, with rebellion and cool weapons, this is a book for you. If not, well, if you enjoy SF, you may just enjoy Glass' novel too.

I look forward to seeing more of Glass' work in the future.

Lies of Locke Lamora--extended excerpt

2008-07-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

I just got done reading this fabulous book by Scott Lynch and I have a review in the works. But when it came time to pick out an excerpt from the book I kept wanting to use one particular piece that had me laughing out loud. But it is considerably longer than what I usually put at the beginning of a review. So, what to do? I decided that I had to put up this excerpt-- call it a bit of blog hubris. But I think it captures the spirit of the book well and if you haven't read Lynch yet, this might give you an idea of whether or not The Lies of Locke Lamora is something you'd like to check out.

** Excerpt contains profanity**

The trellis ran up the full height of the Broken Tower, on a the westward face of the structure, over-looking a narrow alley. The lattice of the wood was threaded with tough old vines and built around the windows on each floor. Though something of a bitch to climb, it was the perfect way to avoid the few dozen familiar faces that were sure to be in the Last Mistake on any given night. The Gentlemen Bastards used the Vine Highway frequently.

The alley-side shutters banged open on the top floor of the Broken Tower; all light inside Locke and Jean's suite of rooms had been extinguished. A large dark shape slid out into the mass of trellised vines, and was shortly followed by a smaller shape. Clinging with white-knuckled determination, Locke gently eased the shutters closed above him, then willed his queasy stomach to quit complaining for the duration of the climb. The Hangman's Wind, on its way out to the salty blackness of the Iron Sea, caught at his cap and cloak with invisible fingers that smelled of marshes and farmers' fields.

Jean kept himself two or three feet under Locke, and they descended steadily, one foothold or handhold at a time. The windows on the sixth floor were shuttered and dark.

Thin slivers of amber light could be seen around the shutters on the fifth floor. Both climbers slowed without the need for words and willed themselves to be as quiet as possible; to be patches of gray invisible against the deeper darkness, nothing more. They continued down.

The fifth-floor shutters flew outward as Jean was abreast with them on their left. One hinged panel rebounded off his back, almost startling him out of his hold on the trellis. He curled his fingers tightly around wood and vine, and looked to his right. Locke stepped on his head in surprise, but quickly pulled himself back up.

"I know there's no other way out, you miserable bitch!" hissed a man's voice.

There was a loud thump, and then a shudder ran up and down the trellis; someone else had just gone out the window, and was scrambling in the vines beside and just below them. A black-haired woman stuck her hair out of the window, intent on yelling something in return, but when she caught sight of Jean through the cracks in her swinging shutter, she gasped. This in turn drew the attention of the man clinging just beneath her; a larger man even than Jean.

"What the hell is this shit?" he gasped. "What are you doing outside this window?

"Amusing the gods, asshole." Jean kicked down and tried to nudge the newcomer further down the trellis, to no avail. "Kindly heave yourself down!"

"What are you doing outside this window, huh? You like to sneak a peek" You can sneak a peek of my fist, cocksucker!"

Grunting with exertion, he began to climb back upward, grabbing at Jean's legs. Jean narrowly yanked himself out of the way, and the world reeled around him as he regained his balance. Black wall, black sky, wet black cobblestones fifty feet below. That was a bad fall, the kind that cracked men like eggs.

"All of you, get off my damned window now! Ferenz, for Morgante's sake, leave them be and get down!" the woman hollered.

"Shit," Locke muttered from a few feet above and to her left. His eloquence temporarily cowed into submission. "Madam, you're complicating our night, so before we come in and complicate yours, kindly cork your bullshit bottle and close the gods-damned window!"

She looked up, aghast, "Two of you? All of you, get down, get down, get down!"

"Close your window, close your window, close your fucking window!"

"I'll kill you both shitsucker," huffed Ferenz. "Drop you both off this fucking---"

There was a marrow-chillingly loud cracking noise, and the trellis shuddered beneath the hands of the three men clinging to it.

"Ah," said Locke. "Ah, that figures. Thanks ever so much, Ferenz."

Then there was a torrent of polysyllabic blasphemy from four mouths; exactly who said what would never be clearly recalled. Two careful men were apparently the trellis' limit; under the weight of three careless flailers, it began to tear free of the stone wall with a series of creaks and pops.

Ferenz surrendered to gravity and common sense and began sliding at a prodigious speed, burning his hands as he went, all but peeling the trellis off the wall above him. It finally gave way when he was about twenty feet above the ground, flipping over and dashing him down into the darkened alley, where he was promptly covered in falling vines and wood. His descent had snapped off a section of trellis at least thirty feet long, starting just beneath Jean's dangling feet.

Wasting no time, Locke shimmied to his right and dropped down onto the window ledge, shoving the screaming woman back with the tip of one boot. Jean scrambled upward, for the shutter still blocked his direct access to the window, and as the section of trellis under his hands began to pull out of the wall, he gracelessly swung himself over the shutter and in through the window, taking Locke with him.

The wound up in a heap on the hardwood floor, tangled in cloaks.

"Get back out the fucking window now!" the woman screamed, punctuating each word with a swift kick to Jean's back and ribs. Fortunately, she wasn't wearing shoes.

"That would be stupid," Locke said, from somehwere under his larger friend.

"Hey," Jean said. "Hey! Hey!" He caught the woman's foot and propelled her backward. She landed on her bed; it was the sort commonly called a "dangler"-- a two person hammock of strong but lightweight demi-silk, anchored to the ceiling at four points. She went sprawling across it, and both Locke and Jean suddenly noticed that she wasn't wearing anything but her smallclothes. In the summer, a Comorri woman's smallclothes are small indeed.

"Out you bastards! Out, out! I--"

As Locke and Jean stumbled to their feet, the door on the wall opposite the window slammed open, and in stepped a broad-shouldered man with the slablike muscles of a stevedore or a smith. Vengeful satisfaction gleamed in is eyes, and the smell of hard liquor rolled off him, sour and acute even from ten paces away.

Locke wasted a second wondering how Ferenz had gotten back upstairs so quickly, and another half second realizing that the man in the doorway wasn't Ferenz.

He giggled, briefly but uncontrollably.

The night wind slammed the shutter against the open window behind him.

The woman made a noise somewhere in the back of her throat; a noise not unlike a cat falling down a deep, dark well.

"You filthy bitch," the man said, his speech a thick slow drawl, "Filthy, filthy bitch. I jus' knew it. Knew you weren' alone." He spat, then shook his head at Locke and Jean. "Two guys at once too. Damn. Go figure. Guess it takes that many t' replace me.

"Hope you boys had y'selves a fun time with 'nother man's woman," he continued, drawing nine inches of blackend-steel stiletto from his left boot, "'cause now I'm gonna make you women."

Jean spread his feet and moved his left hand under his cloak, ready to draw the Sisters. With his right hand, he nudged Locke a pace behind him.

"Hold it!" Locke cried, waving both of his hands. "I know what this looks like, but you've got the wrong idea, friend." He pointed at the petrified woman clinging to the hanging bed. "She came before we came!"

"Gathis," hissed the woman. "Gathis, these men attacked me! Get them! Save me!"

Gathis charged at Jean, growling. He held his knife out before him in the grip of an experienced fighter, but he was still drunk and he was still angry. Locke dodged out of the way as Jean caught Gathis by his wrist, stepped inside his reach, and sent him sprawling to the floor with a quick sweep of the legs.

The was an unappetizing snapping noise, and the blade fell from Gathis' grip; Jean had retained a firm hold on his wrist, and then twisted as the man went down on his back. For a moment Gathis was too bewildered to cry out; then the pain broke through to his dulled senses and he roared.

Jean hoisted him up off the ground with one quick yank by the front of his tunic, then he shoved Gathis with all his might into the stone wall to the left of the window. The big man's head bounced off the hard surface and he stumbled forward; the blurred arc of Jean's right fist met his jaw with a crack, abruptly canceling his forward momentum. He flopped to the ground, boneless as a sack of dough.

"Yes!" cried the woman. "Now throw him out the window!"

"For the love of the gods, madam," snapped Locke. "Can you please pick one man in your bedroom to cheer for and stick with him?"

~Full review coming soon...

"Awaken Me Darkly" by Gena Showalter

2008-07-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

Author: Gena Showlater
Title: "Awaken Me Darkly"
Pages: 384
Publisher: Downtown Press
Misc: Gena's Blog

So, in order to acknowledge my quirk for chronology I decided to start the whole Alien Huntress series from the start, since I had the first two books anyways and even though that I am supposed to review all the top new titles, I will be indulging myself in everything that can make you go squee, especially if the reader is new on the scene. Before "Savor me Slowly" Gena Showlater didn't ring a bell at all.

Mia Snow is a special agent in the New Chicago Police Department, working in the A.I.R unit (Alien Investigation and Removal). The setting is in the near enough future to have your typical American mentality and yet far enough to see that water has been excluded from showring and that cars don't need steering and that aliens of all kinds have nestled on Earth, but without all the hysteria about it. Given the new circumstances justice, legal justace had to adapt and AIR is what the humans came up with. But enough with the pre-word, let's move on to the plot.

While investigating a new strand of serial murders Mia Snow stumbles into big trouble as what seems like an usual psycho alien on the loose, turns out to be a large scale illegal operation that has a lot more to do with Mia than she actually realizes. In the mix we throw a sexy alien, who is a primal murder suspect, Kyrin en Arr, to whom Mia is very sexually drawn; a hidden scheme; mystical abilities that manifest themselves and leave Mia asking questions. When Dallas, her partner and the only man, who can stand her, lies down with a lethal wound that has him dying slowly, Mia is forced to work with Kyrin behind the back of her boss in order to help Dallas and hep clear Kyrin's name, although she doesn't believe him.

In order to avoid spoilers I will not mention the ending, but be sure that Mia confronts a part of her past, which she hadn't known, but she could have gone without. When it all comes down to her, can she handle the strain and could she remain herself with what she knows? Quite the tease, aren't I? In order to find out, you would have to go read the book and that is what I urge you to do.

I have to admit that being a starter novel, this book definitely had to set the stage, so it wasn't was interested as I had anticipated after reading "Savor Me Slowly". The plot is at first glance not that special, since we have a female cop getting herself into trouble, which the TV is full of. However it's the amazing skill of Gena Showalter to strap a well known plot on the surgery table and give it a new look. What starts simple enough spins out of control like a mutating puzzle with every block sealing Mia's choice to act any other way than she did. Of course we have Mia of course, who I think is tough without being haughty or overestimatuing herself like some heroines in the same genre are. Thus we believe her. When she tells she can make someone's life a living hell we don't snort and wave her off as another emancipated daddy's little girl, although she does have her issues with her father.

As a conclusion I just have to say that this novel is a very promising first novel of a series, which has sky rocketed so far with five titles situated in the same world. You couldn't possibly go wrong with this novel, look at the title.

Winners! Pick Your Sequel Contest

2008-07-06T22:35:00.000-07:00

I have randomly (I love Random.org) picked the winners for my "Pick a Sequel" contest and they are:

1st place: Shaunesay-- winner of a copy of "Blood Noir" by Laurell K. Hamilton

2nd place: LadyVampire2u-- winner of a copy of "Undead and Unworthy" by Maryjanice Davidson

3rd place: Black Roze-- winner of a copy of "Spectre" by Phaedra Weldon

Congrats!

If I don't already have your addresses, make sure you send them to me so I can mail off your books.

Thanks to everyone who entered. Be sure to keep an eye out for further contests.

Book Review: The People of the Pole by Charles Derennes

2008-07-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

I received this novel from Black Coat Press, a small publisher that prints English-language translations of classics of French popular literature. As a result, Black Coat gets to dig into the long forgotten science fiction titles from way back when (back in the days of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells). The People of the Pole is such a novel.

Hailing from the early 1900s, Charles Derennes' short masterpiece is a lost world novel that preceded the more well known lost world classic by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (by five years, mind you). Written in 1907, The People of the Pole follows Jean-Louis de Venasque and his companion Jacques Ceintras as they prepare for a journey to the North Pole. Ceintras is a somewhat eccentric, and slightly mentally unstable, inventor who has a brilliant plan to build a dirigible (remember, this was written before airplanes were a true consideration) that can be used to explore the North Pole, where people have tried and failed to get to before. But he doesn't have the funds to do so: Jean does. Intrigued by the thrill of the adventure, Jean decides to go along with it. Before long the dirigible is made and Jean has learned that his companion is not all right in the head. But once they set off for the North Pole and finally arrive there, he will learn an even more valuable lesson: that the world up north is not what he expected and is populated by intelligent creatures that aren't quite human.

Given that this novel was written in an older time, I had to treat it as if I wasn't reading a typical scifi novel. The language present within Derennes' work is a lost language, somewhat forgotten now that we have become so mondernized and the structure and means of writing have changed (for good and bad, of course). Jean is the voice through which we hear the entire story, and put together in a way that seems rather popular in French literature. The story itself is framed by a separate story: a group of people are examining the contents of a "message in a bottle" and trying to determine if it's an elaborate hoax or a reality. Did Jean really find this lost land? Who was the insane one: Jean or Ceintras? This is really a brilliant trick. It adds a certain flare of realism to the overall story by making it seem as though it actually happened, or at least that Jean's writings really existed and that the journey itself was real. And by the end we're left with an open invitation for more.

The pacing of the story was what I would have expected from a piece of its age. It focuses very much on the characters (their reactions to the environment and to themselves). The strain between Jean and Ceintras is probably the most fascinating part of the story for me. Seeing one character descend into madness while the other desperately tries to maintain sanity and stop said mad character was rather interesting, especially when seeing how Derennes ended the novel with Jean's writings put into question. The language of the story is important to mention. This is not the simplistic prose you might be expecting. While there's nothing wrong with simpler prose styles, it is important to note that Derennes is writing in a time when such styles were not common. If you are not a fan prose styles of the early 1900s, then this isn't a book for you. If you are, or are curious about the roots of scifi, then you should give this a read.

It's hard to complain about a novel that is over 100 years old. I can't say that any complaints I might have are even valid. When reading something this old, you have to go into it with the right head. You can't read it like you would read any novel written today, because the way it is written and how the characters interact are entirely different (for the most part). That being said, I would hazard to say that the story only lacks in that it doesn't have enough of a glimpse into the world of the strange creatures in the North Pole. Granted, Derennes has done something not a lot of people in his time did: show evolved creatures, not simply monsters that are extinct. But the world could have done with a stronger treatment. These intelligent creatures must have a significant amount of culture if they have the technology that Derennes shows us. What sort of culture? What are their social lives like? Do they dance? Do they sing?

A bonus for this novel is that it also comes with a short story written by Derennes called "The Conquerors of Idols", a short tale about a man reminiscing on his past. He calls himself a king and weaves the tale of a kingdom that, for all we know, never really existed, but that he believes he was a part of. In this tale he befriends someone of royal blood, which is considered quite natural in that place apparently, and, through a sequence of events, ends up on a grand journey to find a lost, mysterious Native American tribe and their riches and treasures. I get the impression in this story that Derennes was heavily influenced by Central and South American natives, particularly in how he presented the ancient culture of the indigenous people his characters meet. I found this story somewhat lacking in detail in comparison to The People of the Pole, however it was also an interesting story that ended with a bit of a twist, which I didn't really expect.

Overall, the translation was good. There were a few errors here and there, but I think almost all of them were from the translation from French to English and not necessarily an editorial problem. If you want to read some classic scifi and look at the roots of this fantastic genre, then check out The People of the Pole. It's a terrific look at an age of scifi that has since disappeared (a refreshing look, actually). More of the classic popular literature of foreign nations needs to be brought to the U.S. If The People of the Pole is an example of the wealth of ideas and adventurous stories of places like France, then clearly we are missing out on an entire arsenal of stories that could easily be turned into newfangled movies (though preferably ones taken with at least some seriousness, rather than given humorous and otherwise silly treatments as we are beginning to see more and more of in films these days). And with that, au revoir! (If I used that wrong, please correct me).

I'm in a mood...Updated

2008-07-01T23:36:00.001-07:00

****New***********************************************

I know you're probably tired of the links. But I am freak when it comes to free stuff. I can't pass up a chance to tell everyone about it....

Author David Louis Edelman has a contest going on in which he's giving away four books, every week for four weeks. The titles are:
One copy of the Solaris edition of Infoquake
One copy of the Pyr edition of MultiReal
One copy of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two (containing Edelman's story “Mathralon”)
One copy of Overlook Press’ new edition of Mervyn Peake’s Titus Alone (containing Edelman's introduction to the book)

******************************************************

And not a blogging mood if you know what I mean.

I'm in a funk.

I think it's because P'Dub had a contest for a $500 gift certificate this last weekend and I missed it. Oh sure, I wouldn't have won. But dammit, I like to kid myself that I would have had a chance.

So I'm going to offer up my normal linkage and hope some of you might have some better luck-- and tell me about it.

First, you gotta visit my Book Review Blog, I have two contests listed, both ending on Friday.

Then, as always, you've got to visit the Fantasy Book Critic. He has 6 giveaways listed on his left sidebar including, "A Darkness Forged in Fire" by Chris Evans, "The Blood King" by Gail Z. Martin, "Daniel X" by James Patterson, "The Ten Thousand" by Paul Kearney, A set of books by David Webber, "Vicious Circle" and "The Devil You Know" by Mike Carey and "The Tower of Shadows" by Drew Boling.

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has 3 copies of "The Briar King" by Greg Keyes to giveaway. I highly recommend this one...

Author Rachel Vincent has several books, by many different authors up on her blog in a contest that ends THURSDAY. The list includes Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry, Shadows on the Soul by Jenna Black, Ashes to Ashes by Jennifer Armintrout, Dark Lies by Vivi Anna, Scions: Insurrection by Patrice Michelle, Dancing with Werewolves by Carole Nelson Douglas.

Sci-fi Chick has a copy of "Codespell" by Kelley McCullough. Very cool series.

The Book Swede has a copy of "Eternal Vigilance" by Gabrielle Faust up for grabs.

That's all I can find for now. I'll keep you posted if I see more though...

Winners! Invisible Ring by Anne Bishop

2008-07-01T11:08:00.001-07:00

Sorry I'm a day late in getting this up. I feel very flaky right now.

But I have picked 3 winners for the "Invisible Ring" giveaway and they are:

Linda from Connecticut

Lisa Nevin

and

Say It

If I don't already have your snail mail addresses, make sure you send them to me so I can get these lovely books sent right off to you.

Congrats! And I hope you enjoy your book.

GIVEAWAY ~ "Black Magic Woman" by Justin Gustainis

2008-06-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

Seeing how many people chose June as Blogger Giveaway month, I am hardly to blame for wanting to keep it up with big names like Robert from the “Fantasy Book Critic”, who outdid himself with a rapid succession of all sorts of giveaways. I am still a bit pouty that he does the good stuff for US residents, only, but well the post office is a greedy something. Theresa from “The Fantasy and Sci-fi Lovin’ Book Reviews” throws her books around to people, the same manner a model would wave at her admirers. Although I host this one on my own blog "Temple Library Reviews" I wanted to snag some spot light and the generous Theresa graciously offered some and besides it was high time I cross posted something. Stay tuned for the review as well.

Being moved by this spirit I officially start my giveaway of “Black Magic Woman”, which I reviewed one post earlier to keep it fresh for everybody. Rules are pretty simple and standard and for all of the hard core players in the giveaway business it’s going to be a breeze:

1. You can either comment here on this post or write me a nice e-mail at likenion(at)gmail(dot)com with subject title “Giveaway – Black magic Woman”.

2. Only one entry per person, if someone decides to play unfair, I will disqualify him and maybe send some spam along his way (just joking really, but the possibility is deliciously evil)

3. You have a whole week, so mark July 4^th in red, because after then you get nadda and because of the whole time zone thing I will wait for midnight US time, even though that means Saturday morning for me. Yeah, I am from the future.

4. Have fun and if you win, stay in touch, because after 48 hours and no answer I will have to choose another winner.

So, this is it. Have fun all!

Book Review: The Cleansing by John D. Harvey

2008-06-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

"Jesus," Paul murmured. The pack spread along the forest edge for a half-mile on either side of the Inguk home and an ever flowing tide of stragglers filled in the holes. Paul Jr. said nothing. He trembled and that was all. I know how he feels, thought Paul. This is a helluva way to find out that I've had my head up my ass.
Then the wolves howled and all thoughts were driven out by a haunted din. It went on for one deafening minute and then cut as quickly as it started. In the silence that followed, Paul could hear his neighbors' doors banging open. Further down, a few more people joined them on the top of the slope. They stared with the same dumbstruck awe.
"Let's go." Grampa Inguk pulled them toward the house.
--Excerpt taken from The Cleansing by John D. Harvey

The Cleansing is a novel that moves outside of what I normally read. I admit that I have only read one other novel that had Native American themes that I remember (and that was also related to specfic). That was a novel by A. A. Attanasio, the title of which is eluding me at the moment. I've noticed that I don't generally pick up Native American themed novels, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's some narrow minded view of mine that there isn't a lot of interest for me in such novels because I, personally, don't buy mainstream or literary fiction books very often (I tend to stick to fantasy and SF and rarely go outside them except for non fiction work). I am familiar with Native Americans, particularly of the tribes in and around the Foothills of California (such as the Washo).

That being said, reading The Cleansing was a whole new experience for me, not only because it's about Native Americans and, in particular, about things I've not read much about before, but also because it's actually an entertaining read with a really interesting twist on the "werewolf" theme.

To sum it up, the story is about Wanata, a godlike being in Native American folklore believed to come to Earth in the form of a wolf to perform The Cleansing, a sort of nature-induced population control. The Cleansing has happened before, but there's a reason nobody knows about it: because it's something that is hidden, on purpose. But now, mankind isn't a fledgling little species anymore. We've conquered practically all of the globe, spreading ourselves out by the millions, building great cities, polluting everything, etc. Over six billion of us are on the planet now, and Nature isn't happy about it (hence The Cleansing). The problem is that millions of people will have to die to reestablish order. Laughing Wolf, a Native American shaman, knows what will happen and has a vision that tells him he must kill Wanata and create a new Cleansing, one that doesn't involve destroying millions of lives. Savannah, a reporter, just wants to get the next big scoop on the strange happenings in Alaska (a rogue pack of wolves attacking human settlements). The various other characters are inextricably sucked into the events, many of them receiving a shock to the senses as they begin to realize that some things aren't so easily explained and the things happening up north aren't the work of something as simple as a couple stray dogs.

One thing that really stood out to me about this novel is that it actually gives a whole new view of the "werewolf" mythology. While I don't know if Harvey intended this or not, it was there nonetheless and I thought it was really fascinating. In the novel you get the sense that the werewolf condition is like in most werewolf myths: an disease of sorts. Added to that, however, is that it is a human affliction upon nature, which presents itself in ways I thought were really interesting (imagine that instead of a human becoming a monster that can't control itself, it's a wolf becoming a man, and going back again, without all the rampaging and ability to infect other people). I got a bit of a kick out of it because I have grown a little tired of the cliche werewolf stuff (you know, like every Hollywood movie you've ever seen with werewolves, all of which try desperately to add to the myth, but only manage to keep the common mythology running without adding much to it at all).

The plot is really fast paced, so if you're not prepared to be sucked into it and pushed along at breakneck speed, well, that's your own fault. The best part about the novel is that it doesn't play any games and gets right to it: the world is bad and Wanata is going to take care of things (and humans aren't all that smart when it comes to deal with demigods, as it turns out). Savannah is just snappy enough to make me laugh, Chace is just evil enough to make me want to kill him myself, and Wanata, surprisingly, is sympathetic enough to actually make me care about what happens to him (considering he's supposed to be the bad guy). It's also interesting to point out that Harvey doesn't pull punches when it comes to showing human beings in all their forms: good and bad. There are folks who sit in the gray areas, and some who are black and white. This is something I think is very important to have within a novel like this. After all, we're talking about a restructuring of Nature and to make Wanata seem like only a bad guy would make it too easy. Humans are not perfect: some of us are evil, some of us aren't, and some of us sit in the middle. Nature, unfortunately, doesn't generally make distinctions about good and bad.

My only concerns with the novel is that for some it might have too many characters. While the pace is quick, there were a couple times where I was pulled out of the story when the author pulled me around to different characters, trying to give a wide range of views of the same thing or by trying to split the storylines. It's not a tremendous problem. I found myself getting used to it and not generally being bothered after a while, but I think perhaps reducing the amount of POVs could have helped develop the more important characters (particularly the ones that I liked: Savannah, Wanata, and Chace, though the last one I didn't like because he was good, but because he was a completely horrible human being and it would have really been more interesting to know where he came from and why he had turned out that way). There could definitely be more in the development of some of the characters, as I mentioned, but I think in the end it worked out okay anyway. I still want to know what the heck made Chace into the horrible person he is.

Overall, Harvey avoids stylistic annoyances and gives the story in a way that moves quickly and doesn't dawdle. The plot thickens and becomes more complicated as it goes along, which is both a good and bad thing. The bad thing is that the novel ends with only partial closure. Harvey has proposed a trilogy, and the way it ends is set up for that. While it does end, there are still a lot of things left to be addressed, particularly in Quiet Wolf's (Laughing Wolf's grandson) storyline and Wanata's. Hopefully Harvey intends to get the other books out soon, if they aren't out already. I'm looking forward to those sequels mostly because I would like to see more of Savannah and find out what happens, if anything, between her and Wanata. Basically, this is fast-paced reintroduction to the fantastic disaster story, filled with a wide array of interesting characters, magic, monsters, rogue wolves, and a touch of the werewolf. Not much else to say other than I really enjoyed this book and thought it was entertaining from start to finish.

Book Giveaway! Pick Your Sequel

2008-06-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the fantastic people at Penguin Books I get my hands on a lot of really great sequels. The problem is, I don't have the time to catch up on each and every one of them. So I'm going to ask you what books you'd like to get your hands on.

If you'd like to win a copy of one of the sequels I have on my slideshow, then either leave a comment here, telling me what books (up to three picks) you'd like, or send me an email at sqt1969(at)gmail(dot)com under the header "sequel." Please specify which books you'd like because I will choose a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner (since I only have one copy of each) on Friday July 4th. Be sure I can get a hold of you easily. If I cannot contact the winners within 48 hours I will pass the book(s) onto another entrant. Open to U.S. entries only.

I hope this contest isn't too confusing. This is the first time I've tried this kind of contest, so it's a bit of an experiment. So to clarify. I will pick three winners in first, second and third place. The first person I pick will get their priority choice (the first book they list). Second and third place will get lower priority choices if the previous winners picked the same books. Hope that makes sense...

Good luck!

Ahhhh! Busy!

2008-06-26T00:37:00.000-07:00

....But I haven't forgotten this blog. I have another givaway to post later today. Keep an eye out for it...

Lord Save Me From Sarcasm

2008-06-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

I like paranormal fiction, or urban fantasy, or whatever you want to call it. At least I think I do.

The problem I'm having with this genre lately is that it seems like every book I get in this genre uses the same formula. Often, but not always, the protagonist is a young woman who is half-something (vampire, demon...) or say, a witch or a were-something. She could be unaware of her lineage, she's a rebel and she uses sarcasm as one of the main weapons of her arsenal.

I blame "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Seriously. It seems like all the writers of today's urban fantasy have decided to use Buffy as the template for their heroines.

And it's not just the women. I was reading the newest Dresden book by Jim Butcher and noticed the same kind of humor throughout. I don't mind the Harry Dresden books so much because they tend to fuse the old-school private investigator novel with urban fantasy and smart-mouthed P.I.'s aren't a new thing.

But what is the deal with paranormal fiction these days? I find myself picking up books only to discard them within 50 pages because they all seem the same. I like my guilty pleasure books as much as anyone else but over-abundance of sarcasm is killing me.

Am I the only who's bothered by this? And why do you suppose the genre is being taken over this way? I can understand that publishers would want to take advantage of the popularity of a series like "The Dresden Files" but aren't we venturing into the territory of overkill? Or am I just too picky about the whole thing?

Or maybe I'm just getting old.

Nah. That can't be it.

More copies of The Invisible Ring to giveaway!

2008-06-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

Penguin Books had generously offered two more copies of "The Invisible Ring" to giveaway!

Woo hoo!

So I'm going to extend the contest end date until Monday June 30th to give more people a chance to enter.

See my original post for details on how to enter.

Good luck!

Book Review: Marseguro by Edward Willett

2008-06-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

(I'm going to try something new with this review, since SQT does something I don't and I figure I should give it a shot.)

Are you sure about this? Chris Keating asked himself. he reminded himself. If this works, it changes everything. All the dreams of the First Landers, overthrown in an instant. Contact with Earth. Marseguro a colony, not an independent world...no more Selkies, No more second-class "landlings," becoming more second-class every year as the Selkies breed like the animals they are. No more men like my father being murdered by the Selkie masters. A chance to return to Earth, where real humans belong...a chance to find something better to do with my life than cataloging algae samples and scrubbing growth tanks.
Chris remembered the Selkies throwing him off the pier just to watch him flounder, just to humiliate him, just to mock him.
He remembered his father, lost at sea.
He remembered his mother, dying in a hospital long cut off from the latest medical advances.
He remembered her words to him, just yesterday morning...
"The Selkies murdered him...and now they're killing me...they'll kill you too, my boy..."
He blinked hard twice. "Not me," he said, and flicked the switch on the Emergency Insterstellar Transmitter...
--Excerpt from Marseguro by Edward Willett

Willett's novel of religion gone horribly wrong is a "monster" of a tale (pun intended). It takes place some 50 years after a man named Victor Hansen stole an Earth ship (or Body Purified Ship), fled across the galaxy, and established a new colony for he and his modified mer-people called the Selkies. The problem is that he's pissed off all of the Body Purified in doing so, and they are still actively trying to find him and his "abominations" so they can be "purified" (a.k.a. killed a la the same way that Philip K. Dick meant "retire" in that famous androids book we all know). You see, the Body Purified is like conservative religion gone absolutely insane (and we're not talking about what you might call insane today, but more like what we would call insane in the middle ages). Anything that isn't human is deemed an abomination and must be "purified", and there is a strict (and that's an understatement) moral code that all Body Purified members must follow. It's a nasty religion, to say the least. Even clones aren't human and must be destroyed (and if you screw up somehow, you could find yourself in a not-so-happy position yourself). And all of this is awesome and chilling at the same time.

The novel starts off slow, and probably a little slow for me, but once it gets going at around 60 or so pages in, it just doesn't let up. The action and pace move perfectly from that point on. And when it ends, you're left wanting more (Willett better have an awesome sequel in mind, because the ending does leave it open for one). I wonder what a war within the Body Purified would like and I imagine it would be nothing short of "badass". The way Willett has pulled together military technology into this story is fantastic. It's like space opera and military SF got together and had a love child, or something equally as fascinating.

Marseguro has a rather large cast of characters, which was an issue at first for me, mostly because of the slow start. Once things get moving the characters fit together better. Emily (a Selkie) and Richard Hansen (member of the Body Purified, kind of) have a good amount of "face time" and I feel like I got to know them well enough to make them likable characters, and interesting characters to boot. Chris Keating really could have used more space, I think. I feel like Willett wanted me to hate Keating (or at least dislike him), but I was more or less ambiguous about the boy. If that was the intention, then good, but the farther you get into the novel, the more Keating does things that are clearly bad, but for me, I found those thing to all be strangely justified, even if they were wrong. This is in part due to what we learn about Keating. It's hard to not understand why he is doing things. The other characters fit into their roles fine, but were mostly there to provide different POVs for what goes on in the novel. You remember them, but mostly you focus on Richard and Emily, which is the intent I imagine.

The only major flaw I found with the story, as I said, was that it started slow. Maybe it was that things didn't seem to be interesting at first, or perhaps there were too many characters in the beginning. Thankfully it picked up and dragged me kicking and screaming into the whirlwind of the last 300+ pages (I mean this in a good way). Willett's writing shares an even balance between showing and telling, which is good. I find that SF tends to tell more than fantasy, or at least it's more obvious, but the way that Willett tells things (or gives info) doesn't detract from the story, in my opinion. Mostly the information is interesting or useful, and anything that doesn't make sense at first, comes crashing into "sense-land" by the end of the novel when you realize just how nuts the Body Purified really is. The only other flaw I can say exists is that the Body Purified, or at least certain members of it, are far too arrogant for their own good. There comes a point where I wondered if they would figure out they're being really dumb, but they never do. Perhaps this serves to show that being too obsessed with a cause is ultimately not a good way to live and perhaps I'm just too optimistic for my own good to think that humans would learn eventually. However, now I think, that that Willett's novel is just a perfect example of human arrogance and that it isn't a flaw after all (well, at least not a writing flaw, but certainly a clear example of a human flaw).

In a way, I am thankful that Willett didn't turn this book in a soppy love story in the end (he started to set up for something like that, but it's left a little ambiguous in the final chapter, at least to me). I think given all that happens in this story, having a big love affair take place at the end would have made everything that happened before seem a little cheap. But that's me, and again, Willett didn't do this. He did the right thing (there's evidence of a love affair, but he doesn't really describe it, which is better, in my opinion).

All in all I think Marseguro is a good space opera/military SF piece. It certainly has a couple flaws, but if you like this genre, or just find the premise interesting, I don't think you'll disappointed. It's an action-packed ride filled with creepy creatures with gills. How can you go wrong with that, right? Willett writes well enough to make sure you aren't pulled out of the story by weird POV things or odd wording, which is good, because being pulled out of the action would not be good at all. You'll find this book also grapples with some serious issues (particularly the issue of organized religion and what happens if it gets too much power), but does have a little bit of a light-hearted side. It's not all serious. Definitely a good book. I keep getting lucky and reading good things. Either I'm really easy to please, or the publishers have me pegged really good (or SQT does, since she sent me this book). If you'd like to get a taste of the book you can go here to read the first two chapters, or maybe check out his other work too.

And with that, here ends my review. BPS Awesome out! (Willett might get that joke).