Jessica Strider

Pros: emotionally intense, intricate plot with several interconnected mysteries, good pacing/

Cons:/

Jack fixes things. For a price. He has two new jobs, but neither one is his usual work./

The first job is for an Indian diplomat, Kusum, who needs Jack to find a stolen necklace and repay the mugger who took it for hospitalizing his grandmother./

The second job is equally impossible in New York. Find an old woman who disappeared from her home. Despite having no real detective skills, he agrees to help because the missing woman is the aunt by marriage of his ex-girlfriend, Gia. A girlfriend who didn't like learning what Jack really did for a living. A girlfriend Jack would dearly love to get back together with./

The Tomb is a smoothly written multiple mystery. The two plots converge in a myriad of ways, creating a tight story. Mr. Wilson makes good use of flashbacks to flesh out characters and explain aspects of the plot. The pacing is good, ramping up the tension on one hand and giving downtime and tender moments on the other./

I particularly loved the emotional intensity of the characters, specifically Jack. When he remembers Gia's look of horror upon discovering his cache of weapons you can feel his despair at ever convincing her of his honour. And when she asks him to say away from her daughter... his reaction is visceral and comes across keenly. And when supernatural terrors enter the story, you can feel Jack's terror at having to face these monsters./

It's a fantastic book.

Pros: interesting characters, fascinating world-building

Cons: limited plot

The Wayfarer is a ship that punches tunnels through space, connecting major hubs so other ships can travel between them faster. When they're offered the chance to tunnel to a new area, they say yes, even though it means travelling over a year to the entry point in space that isn't quite friendly.

This is a space opera that focuses on the crew and the world they inhabit by way of a simplistic plot. The crew encounter a number of problems on the mission, some personal, some interpersonal, and some brought on through outside forces.

I found the crew a lot of fun. You get to know some of them and their foibles a lot more than others. Corbin, for example, is introduced as a jerk and a loner and then pretty much ignored until a crisis focused on him arises. Other characters get a lot of page time, like Kizzy, the mechanic, and Sissix, one of the alien species on board. Having said that, I never really connected with any of them, and so never felt particularly strong emotions during their crises.

Where the book really shines is the world-building. The alien races are brilliantly done, with unique languages, cultures, dietary preferences, gestures, sexualities and more. There are minor info dumps through conversation explaining some of the races' habits, but they're integrated well and feel mostly natural. You're given enough information to understand the differences between races, and how they interact, without being bogged down in details.

If you're looking for action and adventure you won't find it here. If you're looking for a fun, interspecies crew and learning about a new world this is a great book. The climax is exciting and there's a good denouement that wraps things up well.

Pros: fast paced, complex, interesting morally ambiguous characters, thought provoking, several international locales

Cons: took a while to get into

When Josephine Cebula is gunned down at Taksim station, the ghost riding her flesh jumps to a new host in order to follow the man who, though obviously after the ghost and aware it left the body, for some reason made sure that Josephine died. It's quickly apparent that a secret organization is hunting ghosts, and ‘Kepler' is their current target.

The book begins with a murder and catapults you through several countries in various bodies as ‘Kepler' (named so by its hunters) tries to figure out who's after it and why. Flashbacks to earlier lives show other murder attempts, other lives, other ghosts and how they all deal with the flesh they wear.

The idea of beings that can transfer between bodies isn't a new one, but North does some great things with it. I loved that the ghosts were all individuals, treating their flesh in different ways. Some, like Kepler, are respectful, learning about them, and offering them money and improved circumstances for the time they lose. Others are less concerned with the humans around them, wanting to glory in the achievements, beauty and wealth of others without putting any effort into learning the skills necessary to achieve anything of their own. I liked that the ghosts can't access the memories or abilities of their flesh, meaning they can pretend to be that person, but only with effort on their part to learn the habits and skills of their borrowed flesh. I also liked that the people they take over have no memory of what's happened to them. This allows them to be tracked while also making what the ghosts do - stealing time from their hosts - more insidious. Kepler argues at one point that most people don't care - or are even happy - to lose an hour or two of their lives, especially when working or doing boring tasks. Few people would even notice if they were taken over for a minute or two, long enough for the ghost to get lost in a crowd. But consider the ghost that stays for 6 months or a year. What about 10 years? Or 30? Who'd be ok with losing that amount of their lives?

And what happens when you're effectively immortal, but unable to have a home, loved ones, possessions? What does that kind of lifestyle do to you after hundreds of years, when you're constantly moving from body to body, running from hunters or just bored of who you are?

The book asks some tough questions as none of the primary characters - except the main antagonist - is entirely good or evil. There's so much grey area and you really get to know - and like - the characters that it's hard to remember that this all started with a murder, and that Kepler, who seems so kind and loving, has done some horrible things in its past - depending on your point of view.

Because there's so much to learn about the ghosts, the killer and the plot, I found the opening slow. Not in terms of things happening, but in terms of trying to get a handle on everything that was happening. By the time I had a grasp on things I was thoroughly invested in Kepler and so drawn into the story that it was hard to put the book down.

I'd recommend this for book clubs as there's a lot of discussion possibility here. And if you like action and mystery with body hopping protagonists, give this a try.

Pros: great world-building, fun characters, interesting plot

Cons: some crude language

Karen Memery works as a ‘seamstress' in Madame Damnable's Hotel Mon Cherie. When two women knock on their door running from one of Peter Bantle's cribs by the pier, Karen stands up to him and the roughs who've come to take the women back. Bantle's got a special machine and he's running for mayor, and things in Rapid City start to go downhill fast for the ‘seamstresses', especially when U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves rolls into town, looking for a killer.

You get a wonderful first chapter explaining how Karen's a ‘seamstress' and a seamstress, making her own dresses for her, ahem, actual work. You also get a great introduction to her co-workers and the environment they work in vs environments other ‘seamstresses' have to work in. So when a ‘seamstress' from a much worse environment show up, you're already sympathetic towards her.

The world is basically a decent sized town in the wild west, if the wild west had dirigibles and other steampunk accoutrements - like a souped up Singer sewing machine that straps on. There's also a wide variety of characters, from the black marshal (patterned off of a real man), a lot of spunky women (not all of whom are white), some Russians, a native man, and others. The cast makes the city feel real - and remembers the history of the Western coast, with China towns, escaped slaves, indentured servants, and more.

Bear's prose is fun, seeing through Karen's eyes, though it takes some getting used to as the grammar's atrocious. There's a lot of period - and character - appropriate terms (including derogatory terms for people of other races/nationalities) and swearing, which some may find offensive.

The plot rambles a bit, as Karen isn't always at the centre of things, but is quite interesting and coalesces in a series of fights that make for an exciting climax.

This is an excellent book. Highly recommended.

Pros: lots of intrigue, lots of action, lots of unexpected plot twists, fascinating characters, brilliant writing

Cons: middle drags a bit, lots of swearing

Note: this is book two of the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, and as such both the synopsis and review contain spoilers for book one. If you haven't read The Emperor's Blades, it's a fantastic fantasy novel.

Picking up immediately where The Emperor's Blades left off, the novel continues to follow the murdered Emperor Sunlitan's children: Kaden, heir to the throne, is now able to enter the vaniate and use the Kenta gates built by the Csestriim; Valyn, is considered a traitor by the Ketral under whom he studied for the past 10 years, learning how to kill to protect the Empire; and Adare, who leaves the capital to find an army she can use to wrestle power from the general il Tornja.

There is so much going on in this book. The characters all travel a lot to get closer to their various aims, discover those aims need to change, and in the course of the book change drastically as people. It's fantastic seeing characters react to situations based on limited and often faulty information, make decisions that affect their future - often very negatively - and watch them muddle through. The book feels more like reading history than a structured work of writing. Alliances change, trust is misplaced and/or broken, characters do things they regret and see things they're helpless to stop.

Several battles pepper the book and the climax revolves around a war. There's a lot of action, blood and gore. There's also a lot of politicking, much of which went in directions I did not expect, especially in Kaden's storyline.

The characters are varied in how they act, react and change. They remain entertaining and engaging throughout the novel, though I did find that the middle of the book dragged a bit, especially around some of Adare's arc. The ending was fantastic though, and sets things up for what ought to be an amazing third book.

There is a lot of swearing, which fits the characters but isn't something I'm particularly keen on. I'd place this on the lighter side of grimdark, because most of the characters remain sympathetic, even as they often end up doing horrible things. It feels like a cross between Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy and Daniel Abraham's Dagger and the Coin series.

I really recommend this series.

Pros: great premise, interesting characters, mostly set in Hawaii, creative use of mythologies

Cons: drags a bit

Nix has lived her 16 years on the Temptation, sailing to any map - real or imagined - using her father's special navigation abilities. Slate is looking for a map that will allow them to travel back to the time just before the death of Nix's mother. But Nix is afraid that saving her mother will un-write her own life.

The characters are all somewhat conflicted in their desires. This makes them feel like real people, with their own hopes and fears, clashing with others. I loved that the characters were all from different backgrounds too. Nix is half Chines and half American, Kashmir is from a Persian map, etc.

Hawaii before the American takeover is a fascinating setting, and I was impressed at how closely the author kept to the history of the period (as relayed in the author's note). it was also wonderful learning about some Hawaiian myths.

The use of mythology was pretty clever. I loved the premise of the book and how belief is the most important factor in how the ‘magic' works.

I did find that the book dragged a bit. When they first land in Hawaii it took a while for things to get going.

This is a fun book, with a unique perspective.

Pros: excellent world-building, fun protagonist, quick read

Cons: ending felt rushed

This is the third volume of Isabella, Lady Trent's memoirs and deals with the 2 year research voyage she took on the RSS Basilik. With her she brings Tom, who accompanied her on previous journeys, her nine year old son, Jake, and his governess, Abby.

As with the other books in this series, this is a character driven fantasy novel, following the extraordinary adventures of a female dragon researcher from Scirland. While the previous books focused on one area for her excursions, this one covers several locations where she researches various types of dragons in an effort to create a proper taxonomy for the species.

I love the degree of detail Brennan adds to these book, particularly the background tidbits that don't strictly need to be there but show the amount of behind the scenes thought that goes into the stories. For example, it doesn't really matter to the story that this trip took 2 years or more to plan (besides aging the characters), but it acknowledges that such travel in the past was not only expensive but also difficult to arrange. I also appreciated the occasional bureaucratic, medical, and cultural problems they encountered.

The world expands greatly as the ship stops at numerous ports, sometimes leaving Isabella's group behind for a month or more to do research, sometimes carrying on immediately to the next location. Once again the world-building is excellent. It's possible at times to see what real world cultures she's adapting for her book, but each society is very different from the others and there's a wide variety of characters and customs that show up.

I'm not generally a fan of character driven fantasy but Isabella is such an interesting person that I race through these volumes. Part way through this book they encounter another researcher, who helps them out. Suhail was just as fun and interesting as Isabella, and I have my suspicions about his hidden last name.

While it's possible to read this volume on its own, there are several allusions to the events of the previous books, and a few spoilerish conversations.

The ending feels a little rushed. There's a climactic event, after which events are narrated rather quickly through the denouement. It works for the structure of a novel but would be somewhat unusual for the memoir this purports to be.

These are lighthearted books that don't take long to read and are accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by Todd Lockwood. It's a series I highly recommend.

Pros: great characters, interesting mystery, some new spells and creatures

Cons:

Three years after the events of The Twilight Watch Anton Gorodetsky is sent to Scotland to help investigate the murder of the human son of a potential Russian other, by what appears to have been a vampire. It's quickly apparent that more's going on than murder, and that whoever's behind the murder isn't afraid to use humans as canon fodder.

This book refers fairly often to the events in the previous books in the series, so if you haven't read them if a while, a quick skim is in order.

As with the previous books this one is separated into three sections. It was cool seeing Anton work in different locales and dealing with new members of the watches. He's an interesting character and the supporting cast grows a bit in this book while bringing back several characters from the previous books.

The mystery surrounding the hole in the twilight and Merlin's spell kept me guessing even as other new spells were explained and used, and some new creatures - specifically different types of golems - show up. The book also had some Others using more technology with their magic, which was cool to see.

I enjoyed the book. This is my favourite urban fantasy series and I'm glad to be reading it again.

Pros: interesting & diverse characters, solid world-building, some thought provoking philosophy

Cons: several highly disturbing (though not graphic) scenes, Lolita style relationship

Five months after a devastating accident that physically cut him in half, Alexander Romanov is released from the hospital. With little money and no plans, he encounters a young girl nearing her spesh metamorphosis and - due to the programming inherent in his pilot spesh - has to help her out. He takes a job as a ship captain to help pay for the treatment she needs and, once she's done her metamorphosis, assembles a crew for an unknown mission.

The book is split into three sections. The first section introduces the characters, the second deals with the fallout of discovering their mission, and the third revolves around a mystery. While I really enjoyed the first two parts, the third got irritating as two of the characters claim to have solved the mystery but refuse to explain what happened, presumably so the reader has time to put the clues together. It felt artificial, though there is a reason given for their delay in the text. The resolution was interesting as it referred back to several of the philosophical questions the book as a whole posed.

The world-building in this book is solid. There are four groups at play: 1. Natural, unmodified humans 2. Speshs, people whose parents decide before birth what specialized job their child should have, and are then genetically modified physically and psychologically to do the work and enjoy it. 3. Clones. And 4. the Others, several alien races that have interactions with humans. You'll also encounter human politics, with a child Emperor, various religions (and religious extremism), numerous branches of racism, etc. Different planets have different specialties, atmospheres, and customs, while travel between planets is done using hyper-tunnels and takes a surprisingly short amount of time.

For the most part I liked all the characters, at the beginning at least. The captain's a great POV character. I love his demon tattoo (and what it does for him), and the way he analyses his world, questioning the way things are, even when he's ok with the way things are. Kim's a great character, though I did have issues with her... relationship with the captain (and others, as her being 14 and having sex with people significantly older wasn't something I'm comfortable with, even if the characters - for the most part - considered it normal, or at least, not unusual). Her specializations made her self-assured, despite her lack of experience. Janet was my favourite character until the half-way point when her upbringing came to the fore. I liked that she'd taken charge of her life, getting several specializations and was willing to be a mentor for Kim.

The one character I didn't much like was Puck. His antagonistic attitude and desire to prove that a natural human could be just as good as a spesh made him kind of irritating. I did, however, appreciate that he was gay and that his being natural showed off the prejudices of his crewmates.

This is a book that makes you think, though some of the scenes that open the way to philosophical discussion are disturbing to say the least. While nothing's particularly graphic there are mentions of rape, slavery, and war. I could easily see this being put on university reading lists and/or used for book clubs, as there are some very interesting essay and discussion topics brought up, particularly around genetic modifications and freedom. So, for example, as disturbing as I found the hunting scene, I did appreciate the questions about class, ethics and humanity that the captain ruminated on that arose from it.

In addition to her relationships, I had a few issues with what happened to Kim at the end of the book.

I'm not sure I would want to read it again, but it was an interesting, if somewhat uncomfortable, book to read.

Pros: : clear, concise writing, hard SF, relatable protagonists, interesting worldbuilding, exposition was limited and was worked into the story

Cons: We've already passed the book's future.

Reviewer's Note: This review is of the author's preferred edition of Forever War, published in 1997.

Forever War follows the military career of draftee William Mandella after aliens attack an Earth space ship outside a collapsar jump. Collapsar's allow long range space travel, and Earth refuses to give up the use of them. The best minds, both male and female, are drafted to fight this exhorbantly expensive war the rest of Earth must pay for. But as the years pass on Earth due to special relativity, and only months pass for the soldiers who survive combat, Mandella starts to wonder if he'll recognize home when his tour is over.

Forever War does for Vietnam in science fictional terms what Alexander Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich did for the Russian gulag: allow regular people to experience it. Mandella's career is exceptional, as the author uses him to explore all aspects of the war, from training on earth and Charon, to witnessing combat, returning home and realizing he no longer belongs, reinlisting, getting medical treatment, becoming an officer, and more. Through his eyes we experience fear, love, PTSD (in minor ways) and more.

The novel packs an emotional punch and covers an amazing amount of information, given it's size. Haldeman's prose is clear and concise, a pleasure to read.

As the war progresses over the centuries, Haldeman occasionally explains how the Earth has changed to face the circumstances. The most detailed of these passages comes when Mandella's first tour ends, 2 and 27 years after he enlisted. Earth is a cross between Harry Harrison's Make Room, Make Room and the later part of Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. In other words, Earth is overcrowded and violent. His exploration into sexuality as it pertains to population control is interesting, espcially considering the current controversies over gay marriage. For a book that's 38 years old, it's surprisingly relevant.

This is a hard SF story, meaning the planetery battles are short while the battles in space are long and drawn out with very little action. Mandella's a physicist, so most of the info dumps are via conversations he has with others, where he either explains the scientific concept, or has new concepts discovered while he was on a mission explained to him. Like the rest of the writing, these passages are short, to the point and integrated properly into the story. This reviewer has limited physics knowledge and had no problem following the novel, even though most of the science went over her head.

The only ‘complaint' with the book is that it's dated. Meaning, the aliens attack in 1996, which obviously didn't happen. This is very easy to overlook and shouldn't detract from anyone's enjoyment of the book. There's some talk of hippies, but none of the sexism the word ‘dated' tends to imply when it comes to older science fiction stories. In fact, this is a remarkably feminist work, with women and men treated equally in the army (though more men then women end up in positions of command as far as Mandella's experience is concerned).

If you haven't read this yet, you should. And if you're hesitant to read hard SF, this is a good introduction to the subgenre.

Pros: great premise, diverse cast, complex plot

Cons: Chris's connections start to feel contrived, Chris's wealth

First off, had I not read when the audio book came out that there were two versions, one with a female narrator and one with a male, I might not have noticed that Chris's gender is never specified. Hence my use of his/her.

The book deals heavily with disabilities - the language used to talk about it, how people with disabilities are perceived by those without disabilities, there's a very brief conversation about whether cures are the best course of action, etc. It's great to see a book deal with these issues in a frank way. It also goes into discrimination in some ways, for example, while Haden's sufferers are able to use threeps, no one else can, including people with other debilitating physical conditions - like quadriplegics.

I loved some of the technology used in the book, particularly the 3D crime scene maps and the agora.

The plot was pretty complicated and had a lot of great twists. I did start to feel that a few of the connections Chris made were contrived - Tony being the exact person they need to help with their case, meeting with the heads of the pertinent Haden corporations the week everything's happening. They're realistic given the context, their location, and the number of Haden's concentrated in DC, but they still felt a bit too lucky.

It started to annoy me how quickly Chris was to throw money at his/her problems. Yes he/she is rich, but he/she can't afford to do this kind of thing on every job - replacing threeps, paying for services people he/she meets on cases can't afford, agreeing to pay Tony whatever he wants, regardless of the budgetary concerns of restrictions of the FBI (they don't even see if the FBI has their own contracted programmers who could do the work for them before hiring him).

I thought it was a great mystery with some thought provoking ideas.

Pros: wonderful concept, interesting world, fun characters

Cons: minor quibbles

Irene works for the Invisible Library, an edifice that stands outside of time and space, with access to numerous worlds, each with different levels of chaos and order, magic and technology. Librarians enter theses different worlds and secure unique volumes of fiction in order to advance knowledge and prevent loss. Irene and her new trainee, Kai, are sent to London in a magic-dominant alternate with a high chaos infestation to retrieve a particular Grimm manuscript.

When they arrive, they find the manuscript has been stolen, and numerous interested parties are looking for it.

While you don't learn as much about the library in this book as I'd have liked, you do get some idea of how it and the librarians work. The magic surrounding the Language is pretty cool. The idea that words have power and names show truth is an old one, and used to advantage here. I really liked the idea that there are factions in the library, and you can't always be sure you're being told everything you need to know before a mission.

The world they're sent to has an interesting mix of fae, vampires, and zeppelins. I liked how magic effects how technology works, so that different worlds are forced to evolve in different ways.

The plot is pretty straight forward, with several mysteries introduced and events propelling the characters from one event to the next. There's enough downtime to get to know Irene and Kai a bit. You don't learn much backstory for them, the book stays pretty centered on the immediacy of the action.

I did find the antagonist a bit on the talkative side in a Bond villain kind of way. I also thought Irene gets a bit too lucky with regards to leads on the case and the experimental use of the language. Minor quibbles, though.

On the whole this was a fun romp with a great mystery that will keep you guessing about who you can trust and why everyone wants this book.

Pros: realistic characters, interesting plot, interesting background, fast paced

Cons: don't see the scene the entire book revolves around, Alastair's accent comes and goes

For Parents: some non-graphic violence, minor sexual content, drug abuse

Fifteen year old Quin is nearing the day when she, her cousin (well, third cousin but one of their relatives remarried so they're really only half third cousins), and John, the boy she loves, are initiated as Seekers. They've been training for this for years, learning how to fight to make the world a better place. But John knows that Quin's father is more brutal than she understands. And the Seekers are no longer the noble warriors that she's been taught they are.

The book is split into 3 parts. The first segment deals with the teens' hopes before the initiation and the immediate aftermath of the ceremony. The second segment deals with events some time later, as the protagonists have tried to move on from what's happened. The third brings the players together again to decide whether their futures will be determined by the choices of their past.

I loved the characters. As events unfold each protagonist makes decisions that deeply affects the rest of their lives. Subsequent decisions aren't necessarily good ones, even though each does their best to move on. I especially liked learning more about Maud and the history of the Dreads. I hope more of this history will be revealed in future books.

Quin starts off fairly naive, but ended up going in directions I hadn't expected. At first I thought she was wrong about John and how he would deal with the knowledge he was looking for, but as the book progressed I slowly realized that she was right and that his quest was destroying him. At the same time, I liked John, sympathizing with his plight, as a youth. But time and decisions make him less noble. Shinobu has the most startling transformation between the first and second sections of the book. Here too, his reasons for his actions are completely understandable, even if his decline is not pleasant to read.

This is brought up by a character in the book, but it seemed bizarre that both Quin's mom and Shinobu's dad try to warn them away from their initiation but refuse to explain why. It's impossible to make an informed decision without information and these two know for a fact that their children don't understand what they're making an oath to do. Similarly, lightly warning the kids off only made the kids more determined to take their oaths.

Alastair, Shinobu's father, is a big, red-headed, Scottish man. Sometimes he speaks with a Scottish accent (cannae, etc.), and sometimes he doesn't. There doesn't appear to be a reason why his accent comes and goes.

My main complaint with the book is that the pivotal moment of the book, the scene the entire book turns on, the scene where Quin and Shinobu go on their first mission to become Seekers, is never properly described. We're given a few glimpses, enough to know it was horrible, but not enough to properly understand what Quin and Shinobu actually did on the mission. And this knowledge is essential to understand and sympathize with their following actions. Their despair, depression, Quin's bout of OCD, their extreme hatred of her father (but not so much Sinobu's) all come down to what happened in that scene. I think retaining this scene would have increased my emotional attachment to Quin and Shinobu as well as made John's mission more sympathetic, but I also understand that the scene would have been dark and bloody and the author probably wanted to keep a younger rating for the book.

Ultimately I really enjoyed the book. It's well written, fast paced and at times thought provoking. It's got an interesting magic element underlying how the Seekers can do what they do. It's got some characters who really go through the wringer. Can't wait for the next book.

Pros: high tension, action packed, interesting concept, character growth, good use of literary techniques to achieve the above, great message, you'll be left reaching for the next book in the series

Cons: There's some violence, so it's rated 14 and up, some actual swearing (and lots of ‘fake' swearing), for stronger teen readers

Unlike the older men in his village of Prentisstown, Todd Hewitt was born on this world. He was born with the Noise - the sound of everyone's thoughts - man and animal, night and day. Born after the war that killed all the natives, the Spacks. Born after the Spacks unleashed the germ that caused the Noise and killed all the women.

Todd Hewitt is 30 days from his 13th birthday. Thirty days from becoming a man when he and his dog Manchee come across something they've never encountered before. Silence.

This encounter turns Todd's world upside down, as everything he thought he knew about his world is brought into question. He's forced to flee with the source of the silence in an attempt to find answers and safety from the men of Prentisstown. Men who are finally putting into motion a plan they've been brewing for years.

Patrick Ness is a master of the craft. He uses first person to get the reader into Todd's head and, despite the Noise, Todd and those around him manage to keep secrets - from each other and the reader.

Repetition is used for emphasis, while clipped phrases are a means of ratcheting up the tension. Ness also cleverly sidesteps the use of profanity by using ‘effing', while letting the reader know the boy isn't REALLY saying ‘effing'.

Every time you get close to understanding what's going on something else happens, forcing Todd further along his journey, and pulling the reader along for the ride.

There's also a great message towards the end. And you'll want the sequel on hand when you finish this one.

This is one of the best teen books I've ever read. It's great for both teens and adults, and you'll be hard pressed not to read on.

Pros: excellent world-building, lots of action, complex characters and plot

Cons: minor irritants

Note: This is the third book in the series and as such my review contains spoilers for the earlier books. This is an excellent series. You can read my review of book 1 here.

It's been several months since the events in The Providence of Fire. Adare remains with Il Tornja in the North, protecting Annur from the barbarian Urghul. When a messenger from Kaden's republic arrives, asking for her to return to the capital as a puppet ruler, a series of events unfolds, allowing Il Tornja to pursue his true goal. Meanwhile the remains of Valyn's wing return to the Eyrie to find out what's happened there, while Kaden tries to untangle the mystery of gods walking the earth.

The first few chapters get you back up to speed with regards to what everyone's been up to the past few months. It's a bit disorienting, but things quickly get interesting as the intrigues pile up. There are a number of plots weaving around each other, getting ever more complicated as time goes on.

There's a fair amount of action, with descriptions of war, torture (limited), and a LOT of one on one or small group battles. The action is varied and never dull. In between, there's a fair bit of politics (mainly Adare) and philosophical questions (mainly Kaden).

One scene greatly confused me for a few pages until I finally figured out what was happening.

As with the other books the world-building is fantastic. We get to see more of the world, including learning more about the Skullsworn and their religious order.

The motivations of the characters are as complex as the plot. People make, question, and regret decisions. They act in own best interests based on their information of what's going on in the world. They lie to advantage and tell the truth when it suits them. They're infuriating at times, and completely understandable.

It's a great ending to an excellent series.

Pros: lots of intrigue, complex characters, fantastic world building

Cons: characters make disappointing choices

Otah Machi, sixth son of the Khai Machi, gives up his chance to become a poet and leaves the training school he was sent to without a brand, in order to make his own way in life. Years later, one of Otah's pupils, Maati, comes to Saraykeht to apprentice with its poet. Poets keep Andat, spirits made flesh who perform particular tasks. Saraykeht's Andat, Seedless, helps with the cotton trade. The Andat does not wish to be a slave and has plotted to bring his poet down.

Otah has built a new life for himself in Saraykeht, with a powerful trading house and a woman he loves. But everything changes when the overseer of the house finds out about Seedless's plot.

This is a very complex book. There are plots within plots and it's hard to know what will happen next. I loved all of the characters. Each one felt like a real person, with problems and strengths. In fact, when Maati makes a decision that would normally have angered me, in this book, it worked. I felt sorry for the characters involved and understood their complicated emotions when things went wrong.

The world also felt real. Abraham created a complex vocabulary of hand gestures meant to explain one person's rank in relation to another's, to ask questions, to give thanks. There's a flourishing bath culture for escaping the heat of the day as well as for doing business and learning gossip. The court ceremony and trade bureaucracy are intricate and time intensive. Though the greater politics between nations is only touched on in this volume, I expect it to show up more in later books.

Seeing the characters as real people made the ending difficult as I didn't like some of the choices they ultimately made. The good thing about having a two in one volume is that it's natural to keep reading, where I might otherwise have stopped, having enjoyed the book but not being sure I want to learn what happens next (as I suspect it will be bad).

Pros: fascinating characters, interesting narrative approach, develops new world-building aspects

Cons: character driven

A week after the events of Ancillary Justice, Breq, now fleet captain and assigned to Mercy of Kalr, departs on Anaander Mianaai's orders to Athoek to make sure the system stays safe. In addition to her experienced lieutenants, Seivarden and Ekalu (of the Kalr), she has a new 17 year old one, Tisarwat, to train. Once they arrive at the station, they find a suspicious captain, disturbed by the lack of communication after the attack on Omaugh Palace and the destruction of several gates, racial tensions, and minor issues covering larger problems that need to be addressed.

As with the first book, the real aspect of interest is in how Breq sees the world. You don't get flash backs to when she was Justice of Toren, though that's often in her thoughts, instead you get her trying to keep up with frequent run downs of the sort of information she would have have had instantaneously as a ship, sent to her by her ship, Mercy of Kalr. It's an interesting way of seeing things, and allows Breq to pretend she's still one part of a larger whole while also being a narrative means of showing the reader what's happening in places outside Breq's physical sphere. There is a plot, but in many ways this feels like a character driven novel because Breq's presence is so overpowering. If you don't like her unique way of seeing the world, you won't enjoy this book.

Breq comes across as a tough as nails captain. Sometimes she's too tough, pushing her crew beyond what she should, something I suspected would eventually cause her problems, but her extensive experience means she's able to pull back at just the right moment. Even knowing what Breq was trying to do, I thought she was too hard on Tisarwat at times. Not only had the lieutenant been through a traumatic experience with little recovery time, she's given little to no positive reinforcement when she does things right. So while Tisarwat was an interesting character, seeing her through Breq's eyes made her less sympathetic than she probably deserved to be. It was fun seeing her grow up and mature.

I was a little surprised at the number of secrets she kept from her crew, her true identity as Justice of Toren and what happened with Tisarwat being the main ones, but it does make sense that the crew might balk at such things, so keeping them secret probably made sense.

There's more information about how the military works and there's a unique supporting cast. I enjoyed learning more about the military and political politics, both between the ships but also how it applies to a station and planet once they get to Athoek. I'm hoping we learn more about the Presger in the next book. What little was revealed here merely whet the appetite.

Pros: lots of political intrigue, culturally diverse, brilliant world-building, interesting story

Cons: some issues with genders, several protagonists became unlikeable

The dark star of Oma is rising, infusing power into blood magics that were lost for 2000 years. Dhai on a dying world use that power to form gates to a mirror world they wish to conquer, one like theirs but where history went in a different direction, leaving the Dhai pacifists among more warlike neighbours. But not everyone wants to see their reflections on this new world enslaved, and as more and more people on the imperilled world learn what's happening, they start fighting back.

There's a lot going on here and a ton of characters to keep track of, many of whom have similar sounding names. There is a glossary of characters and terms at the back to help you if you forget who someone is. The different nations are all distinct, with vastly different governments, attitudes, cultures, and languages. It was fascinating reading about how each nation dealt with different problems.

The politics of the different nations, and how they interacted, was fascinating. I enjoyed how Hurley brought in past battles and showed that various nations' wars helped shape the current political climate.

There were a wide variety of characters the story followed (several men and women at different levels of power and skintone). I started off liking most of them, though some of their choices as the book continued made me less sympathetic towards them. In a few cases I ended up respecting what they achieved, even if I didn't much like them as people anymore.

The magic system of drawing power from stars/satellites, was pretty cool. I liked how that contrasted the satellite plus blood combination necessary for calling on Oma. The deadly flora of the world was also cool to read about.

I did have some issues with the world building, mostly with how gender was used/defined. The Dhai, we are told, use five genders: female-assertive, female-passive, male-assertive, male-passive, and ungendered. I couldn't understand how being passive vs assertive changed your gender. I understand that you can have a linguistic marker of politeness or class (Japanese uses different pronouns to denote this), but again, how does it change gender? That leaves 3 genders, which is what the Saiduan use, denoting male, female, and ataisa. Why then does Roh, a Dhai, have trouble understanding which pronoun to use for the ataisa when his language has something similar (ungendered)? Yes, the two languages use different words (ze vs hir), but that's a linguistic difference, not, necessarily a gender difference. I was left wondering if the ataisa and ungendered were in fact different genders, rather than different words for the same ‘doesn't fit into male or female' category.

I also disliked how the genders in Dorinah are basically swapped. Women are larger, stronger, better educated, assertive, domineering etc. than men. Men, meanwhile, are only around as possessions, useful for status, sex, and children. They're weaker and powerless over their own lives, fully submissive to the women who own them (their mothers and wives). I was ok with the idea of gender swapping the country (making it matriarchal), but when you give the men all the stereotypical characteristics of women and all the women the stereotypical characteristics of men, you're basically saying that traditionally female attributes are weak/useless and male ones are strong/worthwhile. Rather than pitying Anavha, Zezili's husband, I found myself reviling him, and felt bad about it considering he's basically a stand in for an 18th century British woman (stereotypically speaking, of course).

I did enjoy the sexual politics of the different countries, how many husbands/wives different groups had and whether that was a matter of status or openness of their cultures. Seeing the Dhai culture's openness with regards to loving both genders freely was also refreshing. I'd have like to learn more of how the Dhai deal with marriages, as I imagine genealogies would be hard to track with multiple husbands and wives in the same marriage (and an openness to affairs), as would preventing incest (assuming that's not allowed there, which isn't a given, considering Ahkio and Liaro are cousins).

Lilia's actions towards the end of the book felt rushed. While much of the book took time to thoroughly develop things, Lilia manages to take several important actions with little preparation or training, which didn't seem as realistic as what happened earlier.

This was a slower read for me, mainly because so much was happening. I needed to take my time with the book in order to keep track of everything. It had some things I loved, some things I liked and some things that irritated me. On the whole, it's a fascinating story with some great in depth world-building and some intricate real world style politics. I'll be curious to see what happens next.

Pros: intricate world-building, fascinating plot, diverse characters, thought provoking

Cons:

Three hundred years ago the people of Saypur rebelled against the Continent, killing its Gods and enslaving the populace as they had been enslaved. Continental history has been suppressed and any mention of the Gods and Their Miracles is considered a criminal act. With tensions high in the ancient capital of Bulikov, it's not surprising when a Saypuri professor is killed while studying the history of the Continent. Shara Thivani, an intelligence officer with an unhealthy interest in said history, goes there to investigate, and finds more than a simple murder.

The idea that the Continent's people were chosen of the Gods is central to the book. What does it mean when you're backed by divine right? And conversely, what does it mean to those you enslave, that they are not? Turning the tables on their oppressors, the Saypuri have become what they once hated. It's clear that despite the time that has passed both sides are still heavily influenced by their past, even if the people no longer have a proper understanding of their history. Old tensions and hatreds cloud modern judgement and ensure that the people of Saypuri keep those on the Continent in poverty, rather than letting them rebuild and start over.

Though the core cast of the book is fairly small, there's a large enough supporting cast to give the book a grand, epic, feel. The cast is nicely diverse, with several people having visible disabilities (a limp, a missing eye, a facial scar), there's a prominent homosexual who must hide what he is in the still ultra-conservative Bulikov, and the people of Saypur, we are told, are a dark skinned people. The Saypuri are an equal opportunity country with women in numerous positions of power, though the protagonist is still referred to as ‘my girl' by an older gentleman of her nation, showing that not everyone there is progressive.

The book did a remarkable job of showing world building through subtleties rather than overt references or gratuitous scenes.

This is a brilliant novel, the kind of book aspiring authors should read over and over again to see how Bennett made his characters and places come alive. If you like intense world-building of the style used in Frank Herbert's Dune or Max Gladstone's Three Parts Dead, pick this up. If you've been looking for diverse characters, pick this up. Seriously, pick this book up. You won't regret it.

Pros: considerate treatment of several... delicate issues, wonderful depiction of a loving relationship, interesting plot

Cons: last of the series

Vincent receives word of his father's demise. His brother, the new Earl of Verbury, has suffered a recent accident and requests that Vincent go to Antigua to deal with affairs on their estate there and look for a possible updated will. Reluctantly Vincent and Jane take ship, where Jane becomes increasingly ill. It's soon apparent that she's with child. It's equally apparent, when they arrive on the island, that affairs on the plantation are not as they expected.

You'll want to refresh your memory of the events of the previous books, particularly book three, Without a Summer, before reading this one, as Vincent's family plays an important role and his childhood and other events from his past are revisited. Similarly, Jane's problems from the end of book two, Glamour in Glass, are brought up a lot with regards to her pregnancy.

Kowal writes with consideration about the treatment of the slaves on the plantation, showing Vincent and Jane's ignorance and reaction to what's going on, from disciplinary measures and substandard housing to the ever present threat of rape from their owners and overseers. There are a few scenes that are uncomfortable to read in the way that it's easier to look away than to face the realities of the past, even when delivered through fiction. This is equally true with regards to some of the difficulties Jane faces with her pregnancy.

It's such a pleasure seeing a loving marital relationship in a fantasy book depicted with such intimacy (by which I mean openness, not graphic content). The way they know each others habits and can understand their moods based on small gestures and noises is wonderful to see in print, as is their honest desire to help each other cope with the difficulties they face.

It's sad to see such a wonderful series end. I really enjoyed the touch of magic Kowal brought to the Regency period and can't wait to see what she does next.

Pros: variety of action, new settings, character development

Cons: Wayne started to grate on my nerves, some predictable events

Waxilliam Ladrian and Steris Harms' wedding day has finally arrived, but things don't go as planned. Against his desires, he's roped into helping the kandra recover one of their fellows' missing spikes. He's also given the whereabouts of his kidnapped sister.

This book changes location several times, and the plot shifts from one connected goal to another, so while my synopsis may not sound that interesting, the book itself has quite a good number of twists and turns.

I loved the growing relationship between Wax and Steris, which again felt realistic. I also liked how several characters developed, questioning themselves and coming to know themselves better.

Wayne started to grate on my nerves, especially at the beginning of the book. His dislike of Steris annoyed me, both because I like her as a character and because he disregarded the growing attraction between Steris and Wax. Towards the end he felt more like the loveable rogue from the previous books.

There are some plot twists that I found predictable, but others that changed the direction of the book in unexpected ways. But even the predictable moments were fun, as they didn't stay predictable for long.

From what I've been reading there's an upcoming 4th book, which is good, because the ending wasn't as neatly tied as I was expecting.

This is a great series with a unique magic system and interesting characters that are so much fun to read about. Can't wait to see what comes next.

Pros: interesting characters, interesting mystery

Cons: drawn out, boring at times

John Rodriguez, or Control, as he prefers to be called, is assigned as the new director of the Southern Reach project, the organization that oversees Area X. His assistant director, Grace, is openly hostile, while the remains of the science team are a helpful, if slightly unhinged bunch. Even his handler, the mysterious Voice, whom he phones reports in to daily, becomes antagonistic towards him as the days pass. Control isn't sure how he's supposed to bring the agency under control considering the opposition, especially when it becomes clear that secrets have been kept from him.

While it's not essential to read book one in order to understand the majority of this book, the biologist does play a role and some information from Area X makes more sense if you have read that book.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed getting to know Control and seeing the inner workings of the Southern Reach. While I understood some of Grace's resistence to his being there, her continued undermining of his job started to grate on my nerves. Indeed, about 200 pages into the book I began to realize that I didn't like any of the characters and no longer cared if Control succeeded in his mission.

I really wanted to learn more about the organization and Area X, but the book's more interested in the inner working of Control and how the various revelations affect his mental state. While the mystery was interesting, so little was uncovered by the 3/4 mark and in such roundabout ways (scenes intercut with other scenes, making it hard at time to piece together what was present and what was past) that I found myself getting bored and no longer caring what was going on. Things picked up in the last third of the book, getting first fascinating, and then kind of boring again.

The book brings up a lot of new questions but doesn't answer many. I'm wary of reading the third book for fear that no answers are coming.

Pros: fascinating story, get some concrete answers

Cons: lots of detail

Picking up where book two leaves off, Acceptance follows three individuals: Saul, the lighthouse keeper in the days before Area X; the Director and the lead up to the twelfth expedition; and Control and Ghost Bird, wandering through Area X, looking for the Biologist on the island.

While I enjoyed Saul's story the most, it was fantastic finally learning more about Area X's creation and the Southern Reach's real inner workings. While not every mystery is solved, enough concrete answers are given that having to interpret some for yourself is fine.

The story does get bogged down in details at times, making some parts harder to get through than others. I found my mind wandering at times and had to reread sections to make sure I wasn't missing something essential.

It was a good conclusion to the series, bringing in a lot of elements from both of the previous books.

Want to improve your fiction writing skills? Then this is the book to buy. The editors discuss the most common problems they have to fix when doing their jobs - and give the aspiring author the skills necessary to make their work more professional and become better writers.

The book's chapters each focus on one issue, giving examples of how to and how not to use the techniques, a check list of things to watch for in your writing and exercises to make sure you understand what they're teaching.

The writing is clear, to the point, and designed to turn a passable manuscript into something publishers will be fighting to represent.

Pros: tense, compelling, humerous, hard sf

Cons: swearing, some exposition

Mark Watney is presumed dead after being hit by flying debris and having his suit depressurize during the evacuation of the Ares 3 mission on Mars in a dust storm. But hours after his crew departs on the only ship, Mark wakes up. Now he's alone on Mars with no way home and supplies only designed to last a crew of 6 for 31 days.

This is a novel of survival under extreme conditions. It's predominately told from Mark's point of view via daily journal entries. Mark is a resourceful man with a dry sense of humour, which helps keep the novel upbeat even though things are constantly dire. It's a compelling book that's hard to put down with lots of tense moments.

It's also hard science fiction, meaning there's a good amount of science explanation and mathmatics going on. Most of the time it's quick and engagingly told (often using humour). Communications are reproduced with the time lag and flight times are dictated by real physics. According to an interview I read by him the only scientifically inaccurate point in the book is the dust storm on Mars at the beginning of the book.

There's a fair bit of swearing, which I'm not keen on, but a lot of it was understandable given the circumstances. My only other complaint is that a lot of necessary information was given in conversations in ways that - though they worked in the text - would sound odd in real life. So, for example, people would say things like “It's nice to be back in Houston.”, rather than simply “It's nice to be back.”, so the reader would know where the conversation was happening. Similarly, people often explained things to coworkers that their coworkers should know, like how various scientific things work, or what they're called, so that the reader would learn this information. It's a catch-22 in that the reader needs the information and there are only 2 ways to get it across, via dialogue or exposition. Dialogue is the more interesting way of reading it, so he made the right choice. And most people won't notice he did this, they'll just enjoy the fast paced story.

This is a fantastic book and I can understand why it made so many top 10 lists for 2014 and why it's been optioned for film.