Reviews

Get in Touch with Your Inner Troll

Graeme’s Fantasy Review reaches back to our very first season with a review of Charles Coleman Finlay’s fantasy, The Prodigal Troll,a tale of a human troll lost in the wild as a baby and raised by a band of the reclusive fantasy creatures. Graeme gives the book seven out of ten and says, “The story itself is a good blend of worldbuilding and plot, balanced just right so you don’t get too much of either one or the other. …an engaging read both in style and content and really got me into the ‘troll mindset’ that the author was aiming for. It ends on a cliffhanger and I for one want to know what happens next.”

Meanwhile, Grasping for the Wind has this to say: “Finlay’s exploration of the way humans interact with each other and the effect of war, love and the exotic on the human psyche is fun to read. Written in epic fantasy style, Finlay proves that epics do not have to take twelve volumes, or even a trilogy, to delve into the enigma that is humanity. Finlay writes with a wonderful cadence, inserting action at just the right moments, but allowing his characters time for introspection as well, but never so much has to slow the pace. The ebb and flow of the plot makes The Prodigal Troll a stay up all night read.”

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A Trio of Pyr Positives

Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist calls Kay Kenyon’s Bright of the Sky,“another quality read courtesy of Pyr,” and suggests, as others have done, that the book will appeal to readers of both science fiction and fantasy. He further say, “High stakes, skilled worldbuilding, good characterization, adroit pacing: Bright of the Sky is a superior read.

Tomas L. Martin’s Darrkeworld posts two Pyr reviews originally destined for SFCrowsnest.

Of The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie, he says, “Many have compared his work to that of Tad Williams and George R. R. Martin and the comparisons are not reaching. The books have a strong sense of plot, that there is an intricate plan behind the events of the book, something rare in a first novel. The main characters are a huge draw…The dark characterisation brings new life to the fantasy genre and the complex moralities of the protagonists is a real joy. Even the minor characters seem colourful and realised, with strong dialogue and difficult choices for all involved.”

Meanwhile, turning to David Louis Edelman’s Infoquake,Tomas says, “although at first I doubted his choice of protagonist, the ambitious and ruthless business figure of Natch becomes a hero rather than antihero through clever use of flashback and other characters’ point of view. The story is developed well and the business side of this biotech based future is astonishingly believable. It’s remarkable to have a novel that’s packed with action, excitement and tension when the action itself is more what you’d see in the Financial Times or Wall Street Journal. With the sequel, MultiRealout later in 2008 you’d be well advised to pick this one up and refresh your memory on one of 2006’s great debuts. Pyr continue to release excellent and above all fresh content. Long may it continue.”

Thanks, guys!

Update: Jeff Vandermeer comments on his Locus Best of the Year recommendations on Amazon’s Omnivoracious blog. Speaking of Bright of the Sky: “This one’s for readers who loved Ringworld by Larry Niven but also for fantasy readers who love great fantasy quests. How can that be, you might ask? It’s set primarily in a strange alternative universe but also in the future of our universe. I think the cover, in this case, says it all: the book is exotic, beautiful, and daring.”

See?

Update Update: Graeme’s Fantasy Review also chimes in on Bright of the Sky, calling out the Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist review above, and calling the work, “a remarkable beginning to a series that I am looking forward to seeing more of. Great stuff!”

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Mercenary has Mass

Don D’Ammassa’s Critical Mass, on Mike Resnick’s Starship: Mercenary:

“Wilson Cole and his crew are back for their third outing. …The story is very episodic, chronicling their adventures as they perform a rescue mission, foil an extortion plot, and evacuate hospital, among other things. In each case, Cole is able to prevail through his wits as much as his gunnery, but of course the author has set the situation up that way. Although in a sense this is somewhat contrived, it isn’t obvious and Resnick has come up with some clever ploys for outsmarting the bad guys. The characters are flimsier than in his more serious novels, but the storytelling is as good as ever and we genuinely regret it when he and his former ally, the Valkyrie, find themselves on opposite sides. The ability to write good space opera is increasingly a misplaced, if not entirely lost art, but Resnick knows how to draw on a hidden lode of it. Lightweight but genuine fun.”

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Before They Are Hanged: Beating the Middle Book Syndrome with a Starred Review

Before They Are Hanged (The First Law: Book Two)

Joe Abercrombie

This grim and vivid sequel to 2007’s The Blade Itself transcends its middle volume status, keeping the reader engaged with complicated plotting and intriguing character development… Abercrombie leavens the bloody action with moments of dark humor, developing a story suffused with a rich understanding of human darkness and light. (Mar.)

—Publishers Weekly, starred review, January 21, 2008

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Paragaea: Old Fashion Aventure!

Comic book scribe Ron Fortier has posted a review of Chris Roberson’s Paragaea: A Planetary Romanceon his Pulp Fiction Reviews site, and seems to have liked it.

“Hold on to your hats! When you open this book you are in for a rip-roaring, old fashion adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burrough’s planet stories… Their quest is a lively action filled romp that I enjoyed to the max and was sorry to reach the end all too quickly. It does end with several unresolved plots that I hope will be handled in forthcoming sequels. Heironymous, Leena and Balam are three of the best adventure heroes ever created and I’m so happy to have made their acquaintance. It’s an experience I’d like to repeat and soon. So will you.”

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Politics and Action: Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together

There were two things that drew me to Joel Shepherd’s Cassandra Kresnov series initially. The first was that his was the first prose work that I’d encountered that fully embraced and explored the ramifications of a totally integrated mind-to-net world, in a way I’d never seen done in prose SF before, but had seen only in the manga (not the anime) Ghost in the Shell. I mean, we all remember Case and Molly in each others heads from way back, but I’d yet to encounter a novel in which the entire population was chipped, with multiple conversation threads and images zipping around between everyone. And since this is pretty much where I think we’re heading in the real world, I was surprised it took me till Joel to see it anywhere outside of manga. (I’m sure there are other examples, our own David Louis Edelman being one, but I’m talking my perspective.)

The second was the way he so seamlessly interwove action and political intrigue, and the coin toss it was to decide which was the more gripping. So it was really gratifying to see so many reviews stating things like “I can’t wait to get through the action to the next political discussion.” Not something you expect to see, right? Since then, I’ve held Joel up many times as the epitome of what a good SF novel can be – I mean, it has synthetic warrior women leaping out of flying cars with machine guns blazing, and is also a masterful examination of what it means to be human and the ramifications of artificial life, chocked full of strong female protagonists. It’s smart, it’s deep, it’s fast-paced, it’s action packed, it would make a hell of a good movie or tv series, and it’s quintessential SF.

So this latest review from Rob H. Bedford of SFFWorld makes me smile. Since it just confirms everything above, “I also found the political maneuvering to parallel the action very well, much like the previous two volumes. Shepherd’s adept hand at balancing these two differently flavored adrenaline inducing types of scenes continues to be a strong point in his writing.”

See? Rob continues, “Another strength that comes to the fore in Killswitchis that Shepherd doesn’t offer easy answers to his character’s problems. The relationship between Vanessa Rice and Sandy has been both intense and a walk across eggshells. Although these two do try to confront the tension between them, it doesn’t fully become resolved. I found this to be somewhat refreshing.”

Hey hey!

He concludes, “With this trilogy complete, Shepherd has proven his ability to deliver politically and action charged science fiction. …the books stand well together as good action-packed Science Fiction. Kresnov is a strong character and a very human non-human character at that. Killswitch is a nice ending to the trilogy and a culmination of Sandy’s journey.”

Thanks Rob. I couldn’t agree more!

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2nd Starred Review in PW for Kay Kenyon’s Entire & the Rose

Publishers Weekly has given a starred review to Kay Kenyon’s forthcoming A World Too Near. This is the second such for The Entire and The Rose series, as the first book, Bright of the Sky, was also starred (and went on to make their Best Books of the Year list too).

A World Too Near Kay Kenyon Pyr, $25 (456p) ISBN 978-1-59102-642-6

“The fate of two universes hangs in the balance in this intricately plotted sequel to Bright of the Sky (2007)….Tangled motivations, complex characters and intriguing world-building will keep readers on the edges of their seats.“

Perfect timing too, as the paperback of Bright of the Sky comes out next month. And I just finished reading the manuscript to book three, City Without End, and can’t imagine it’s going to do any less.

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Killswitch: The Heroine Bionic Woman Should Have Been

JP on SF Signal gives Joel Shepherd’s Killswitchfour and a half stars, with a review that says, “These books cry out for some type of screen (big or small) time. (I’m looking at you Sci Fi Channel. Convince Kate Beckinsale to play Cassandra and you won’t be able to keep the SF fans from storming the channel.) …If there’s anything Shepherd can do well, it’s action sequences. Everything you’d expect a synthetic being like Kresnov to do, she does. And Shepherd’s prose brings it to life with widescreen clarity. This is the heroine the Bionic Woman should have been. Smart and supremely confident…”

JP says he even paused in his playing of a videogame to read. Can there be any higher praise in our current century?

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