Three new Pyr reviews up at SFCrowsnest.
First up, Eamonn Murphy’s review of Alan Dean Foster’s Sagramanda (A Novel of Near-Future India):
“Someone once said of George Bernard Shaw that he couldn’t write a boring sentence. Alan Dean Foster can but he doesn’t write very many of them. Even when adapting less than excellent animated ”Star Trek’ scripts, he turns in a good line or two. Presenting his own plots and characters his prose is frequently divine, full of apt phrasing and neat similes. If nothing else, this book is a pleasure to read. Happily, there is something else, mostly a good plot, an interesting cast of characters festooned with hi-tech gadgets and a rich setting…”
Then Tomas L. Martin reviews Sean Williams 2nd and 3rd Books of the Cataclysm. Here’s Tomas on Book 2, The Blood Debt:
“Williams is a great writer and an even better world-builder. Comparisons
can be made to China Mieville’s Bas-Lag work with its assorted weirdness and willingness to bend and break the traditional tropes of fantasy worlds. This doesn’t feel like a fantasy adventure novel typically does. Its towns, citizens, technology and magic feel significantly alien and new which is a great and welcome achievement… Overall, Sean Williams has produced that rare of gems, a fantasy book that really feels like you’re visiting a new world, rather than a rehashed version of somebody else’s milieu. The easy style and likeable banter between protagonists makes the book an enjoyable read and the plot keeps you wanting to come back for more. Expect to buy all four if you get the first!”
And here is Tomas on Book 3, The Hanging Mountains:
“Sean Williams’ impressive world-building and enjoyable style and plot surprised me, providing me with the most enjoyable fantasy reads I’ve experienced since finishing China Mieville’s The Scar…Sean Williams is writing an important series here that does a great service to the fantasy genre by encouraging it to break tradition. His powerfully creative world-building should stand as a call to arms for fantasy writers to leave the world of Tolkien-aping lands behind and really start being adventurous. Read all three of ‘The Books Of The Cataclysm’ and when the fourth is released, buy that, too. I know I will be.”