Shelf Reflections

Click image to purchase from Amazon I’m a huge fan of good, meaty character development.   I do enjoy books where the characters are pretty set and their reactions to situations are what drive the story, but sometimes the evolution of a great character trumps just about everything.   With the second Eli Monpress book, The Spirit Rebellion , Rachel Aaron demonstrates her skill at advancing her characters in a realistic and exciting manner. Miranda Lyonette failed to catch Eli Monpress, but she did save an entire kingdom by offering her own body as the vessel for an ocean spirit.   However, she returns to a Spirit Court rife with politics.   A trumped up charge brands Miranda an outcast, and she runs, hoping to somehow clear her name… and maybe catch that pesky thief Eli in the process. Meanwhile, Eli and his friends Josef and Nico have arrived in Gaol, following the rumors of an impregnable fortress and a fabulous treasure. ...

Six reviews archived to the website tonight.  Check the main books page to see them.

Click image to purchase from Amazo One of fantasy’s most prevalent stories is, of course, the King Arthur myth.   Any story that survives hundreds of years and thousands of retellings obviously has some staying power.   You might think that the Arthur tale has been done to death, but that’s not true.   Rather than growing stale, the myth lends itself to some very creative re-imaginings.   Among them is Alex Bledsoe’s Dark Jenny , a whodunit set in the last days of an alternate King Arthur’s reign. Sword jockey Eddie LaCrosse is having a peaceful drink in a bar when he gets a very unusual delivery: a coffin, accompanied by a note, which came from the island nation of Grand Bruan.   Eddie’s friends know the tales of King Drake and his downfall and death at the hands of his bastard son Medraft, but now Eddie lets on that he was there during those final days.   And he’s willing to tell the tale. Years ago, a simple spyin...

I've seen a couple of unusual birds in our backyard in the past week.  Last weekend, I saw a hummingbird that was red like a fox--kind of a russet red.  I was able to identify it as a male Rufus Hummingbird.  Today, I saw a bird that had a brown body and a zebra-striped head, stripes running front to back.  I just identified it as a white-striped sparrow. I've also noticed kestrels in the area a bit more often.  They usually stay out in the more rural areas, but we've seen them in our neighborhood lately.

Click image to purchase from Amazon Anybody who reads urban fantasy can tell you that there are certain cities that are the popular settings.  Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York—these are the “happening” places to have a story take place.  So it’s such a refreshing change to see a novel set in my home area, the Sacramento valley.  Eileen Rendahl’s Dead on Delivery continues the tale of Melina Markowitz, a Messenger working in a location rich in diversity and danger. When two people to whom Melina made deliveries turn up dead, apparently by suicide, she doesn’t think that it’s a coincidence.  But what could have been in the packages that would drive someone to end their own life?  Melina probes into the lives of the two dead men, and she finds that they share a past—one that includes a horrible crime. Now, in a community split by unspoken racial tensions, Melina searches for the person who handed off those fatal packages for delivery.  Her invest...

I just got back from a book signing by Eileen Rendahl , local fantasy author.  I enjoy her novels, and it was a pleasure to meet her.  I always feel a little shy around authors, though!  Anyway, she's a nice lady and I got to chat with her a little bit.  I hope to have the review of her latest novel, Dead on Delivery , up no later than tomorrow afternoon.  It's been a busy week and I haven't had time to write much.  I've been catching up on things that I let slide while working my way through Rothfuss's tome of massiveness.

Click image to purchase from Amazon The vast majority of fantasy epics focus on heroic deeds, feats of derring-do, and mind-numbingly powerful magic.   What would you make of a story that, in many ways, does the exact opposite?   That’s just what happens in Patrick Rothfuss’s The Wise Man’s Fear , the story of the legend behind one extraordinary man. Kvothe, known as the Kingkiller, is in the second day of telling his story to Chronicler.   He spins his tale in between patrons visiting the inn that he owns under the guise of a simple bartender named Kote.   Monsters are roaming the land, and the king’s tax collectors bleed the people dry.   The village is uneasy and looking for a way through their difficulties, but what can they do to hold back the night? Kvothe’s story as told to Chronicler continues, following him through some of his University time and his departure for Vintas.   Encounters with rapacious nobles, ...

I've spent the last week reading Patrick Rothfuss's The Wise Man's Fear .  Very good, but VERY long... almost 1000 pages!  I finished it yesterday, and the review will be forthcoming in the next day or so. I've been given a couple of advance copies on loan by our store's trade buyer, and I'm reading one of them now: John Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation .  I'm enjoying it thus far, but the review of that one will have to wait for a bit, as it doesn't come out until May. I received a book in the mail that I'm excited to read: Robert J. Sawyer's WWW: Wonder .  I may start that one next, but there are so many good books sitting and staring at me, I'm not sure what I'll pick up next!

Click image to purchase from Amazon Celtic mythology has long provided fertile ground for fantasy novels.   The rich history, coupled with Druid mysteries, lends itself well to telling a good story.   And these novels are often researched just as well as ones with a straight historical perspective.   Jules Watson’s recent book, The Raven Queen , blends history and myth to paint a portrait of Maeve, the warrior queen of the Iron Age.                                          When Maeve flees to her home of Connacht, abandoning her husband King Conor of Ulster, she knows that she’s breaking the alliance between their kingdoms.   But she also knows that Conor has ambitions beyond his own lands—he wants to rule all of Erin as high king. Maeve’s father’s death throws the ...

Click image to purchase from Amazon I suppose that one could say that fantasy novels are the fables for modern adults.  They use magic and strange creatures to cloak the morality plays that typically only belong to children’s books.  Whereas a small child might read “Hansel and Gretel” and absorb the “don’t talk to strangers” motto, novels for adults can’t be that blatant.  Luckily, we have books like The Hammer , which not only explores the idea of vengeance, but it also digs into the issues of community and its responsibilities. Gignomai met’Oc is a younger son in an exiled noble family.  Lording it over the community that sits at the foot of their plateau, they constantly look towards the day when they will be allowed Home and their exile will end.  While not exactly approving of Gig’s forays into town to interact with “common folk”, the family nonetheless turns a blind eye to his visits. But one day the visits stop, and when they resume, Gig has obviou...

Click image to purchase from Amazon While mythology is a rich mine for fantasy, it doesn’t often come into play in science fiction.  That’s too bad, because science fiction as a genre carries many of the same themes and plot arcs as fantasy.  So you can imagine how excited I was to find that M. M. Buckner has written a novel that draws heavily on the Greek myth of Orpheus.  The Gravity Pilot follows a skydiver and the love of his life as each descends into their own personal Hell. Orr has given his life to two things: skydiving and his girlfriend Dyce.  But when a botched stratosphere dive turns into a record-breaking mesosphere jump, he’s quickly contracted to make jumps to be filmed for a virtual reality world.  Dyce can no longer take his obsession with the sport and takes a librarian job in the underground city of Seattle. Orr later discovers that Dyce has become addicted to fully immersive virtual reality and is a slave...

Okay, all the links to Amazon on the site are now uniform.  Took me all afternoon, all of Mamma Mia! and two thirds of the extended Return of the King .  :)

I've added some more past reviews to the website.  There's a slight change of format on the pages, since Amazon has helpfully decided to no longer offer me an option to have image-only links.  Here's the list: Deep Fathom by James Rollins Alien Taste by Wen Spencer Once Upon a Winter's Night by Dennis McKiernan The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold The Coming by Joe Haldeman Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card The Legend of Luke by Brian Jacques White as Snow by Tanith Lee And now, to start changing all the links on my site to match the new ones.  Ah well, I was only about a third of the way through getting the links set up anyway, so I might as well do this now.

A piece of art that charts the history of science fiction All I can say is... WOW.

Click image to purchase from Amazon I’ve been following the Mercy Thompson books from day one.   I found myself drawn to Mercy’s no-nonsense personality and the realistic characters that she interacts with.   So it was a bit of a surprise to find that her newest book features almost none of the people that readers have come to know and love.   Even so, River Marked is a good addition to the series, full of action and mythology. Mercy and Adam, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, have finally tied the knot.   Their honeymoon takes them to the Columbia River basin and an idyllic campground all to themselves.   But even on their honeymoon, the pair can’t escape from otherworldly doings. People have been vanishing around the river at an alarming rate.   While it might seem that it’s merely a rash of drownings, Mercy has caught sight of something odd deep in the water.   And her dreams have been haunted by an enig...

Apologies for the lack of content since last week... I was feeling a little under the weather the past couple of days.  But I'm back in the saddle and a new review will be up in few minutes.  Thanks for your patience!

Suvudu has begun their 2011 Cage Match!   Go vote for your favorite characters in head-to-head match-ups.

I took some time today to add in some old reviews that appeared in the Davis Enterprise.  Here's the list: Blade Dancer by S. L. Viehl The Changeling Plague by Syne Mitchell The Dragon Queen by Alice Borchardt Exile's Honor by Mercedes Lackey Ghostlight by Marion Zimmer Bradley Guardian of the Promise by Irene Radford Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer Hyperthought by M. M. Buckner Joust by Mercedes Lackey The Little Country by Charles de Lint The Meek by Scott Mackay Northstar by Phil S. Benson On Crusade edited by Katherine Kurtz Paper Mage by Leah R. Cutter The Pickup Artist by Terry Bisson The Pillars of the World by Anne Bishop Second Contact by J. D. Austin The Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey A Sorcerer's Treason by Sarah Zettel Taken by Thomas Cook Tangled Up In Blue by Joan D. Vinge Star Wars: Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning The Valdemar Companion edited by John Helfers and Denise Little A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane

Click image to purchase from Amazon Everyone knows the story of “The Little Mermaid”… or at least, they think they do.   The Disney version is prevalent in most minds nowadays, but the original story was far darker and grimmer than any family-oriented cartoon could ever hope to portray.   Carolyn Turgeon has taken the Anderson fairy tale, added some elements of her own and combined them to create Mermaid , a poignant retelling of the mermaid who left the ocean for love. Princess Margrethe is sent to an abbey for her protection, as it’s rumored that the armies of the Southern kingdom are about to attack.   Walking the cliffs one day, she sees a mermaid in the sea below, and she’s holding an unconscious man.   This moment imprints on her mind and affects her forever. Lenia, youngest daughter of the sea queen, makes her single allowed trip to the surface of the ocean on her eighteenth birthday.   A savage storm wrecks a nearby ship, and Lenia impulsively save...

Click image to purchase from Amazon  With all the vampire novels out there, you’d think that everything that can be said about them has been said.   And that includes sparkles.   But Jaye Wells has thrown some new elements into an old and classic monster with her Sabina Kane books.   The newest one, Green-Eyed Demon , ramps up the action and raises the stakes for our heroine. Sabina’s sister Maisie has been kidnapped by their treacherous grandmother Lavinia, ruler of the vampires.   Sabina is desperate to rescue her and vows vengeance on Lavinia at any cost.   But anger must be put aside in favor of cold hard logistics as the trail leads Sabina, Adam and Giguhl to New Orleans. As Lavinia and her thugs torment Sabina and threaten everyone close to her, it becomes clear that there is far more at stake than just Maisie’s life.   Lavinia is working with the Caste of Nod, and they believe that Sabina is prophesied to bring about the uniting of all the...

Click image to purchase from Amazo n One of my favorite aspects of a novel, be it science fiction or fantasy, is worldbuilding.  That doesn’t  have to mean an actual world—it can be developing a culture, setting the scene in an interesting way, or highlighting interactions between people (or peoples).  Sara Creasy’s newest novel, Children of Scarabaeus , provides the worldbuilding that I wanted from her first novel and fleshes out her universe into something entertaining. Edie Sha’nim and her bodyguard and lover Finn are inextricably bound to each other—not only by the bonds of affection or duty, but by the chip in Finn’s head that will explode if he strays too far from Edie’s side.  Having escaped the world of Scarabaeus, now a biological nightmare, they enter cryosleep to try to throw the Crib off their trail. Edie formerly worked for the Crib terraforming worlds, and Scarabaeus was her only failure.  But some in the Crib think that Scarabaeus’s rampant...