Latest Book Reviews and Comments

Okay, so we all know that stories within the Star Wars expanded universe can be hit or miss. In fact, Timothy Zahn is about the only author I've found to be consistently entertaining, which is why I was excited to see some big name authors stepping in to explore the universe. First up for the Empire and Rebellion saga is Martha Wells, with her Princess Leia focused novel, Razor's Edge. As a vehicle for exploring Leia's character, it works rather well. We really get to see her as a leader, as a political force to be reckoned with, and as somebody suffering under a lot of pressure. Wells bravely tackles the guilt that comes with the death of Alderaan, and even more bravely wades into the awkward quagmire that is her romance with Han Solo. Beyond that, though, I didn't feel the book really offered anything new or significant. As nice as it is to revisit old friends, there are only so many stories to be told in the gaps between movies, especially since its hard to generate any real drama when you know everybody makes through the next move alive. There are some great action scenes, and some fun moments, but it felt like Wells tried too hard to maintain the frantic pacing of the movies. It's just one climax on top of another, until you're numb to it all. This was by no means the worst Star Wars adventure I've ever read - there's a flair to Wells' writing not commonly found in tie-ins, and I am still eager to read more of her work. I can certainly appreciate Leia getting her chance in the spotlight, but if Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman taught us anything, it's that Star Wars needs move beyond the story we already know, and start contributing to a new one. http://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.ca/2013/12/from-alderaan-to-mars-disappointing.html

With a title like Mars, Inc. and the name Ben Bova attached to it, you would think you'd know what to expect. Personally, I was excited to get my hands on an ARC,and went into this with high hopes. As much as I tried to hold onto those hopes, though, the 'real' story I expected to find beginning in the next chapter never materialized. This was so very much not what I was expecting from a master like Ben Bova. It felt like a throwback to 60s and 70s pulp sci-fi, but not in a good way. It was cheap, sexist, and almost as lazy in respect to its business and it politics as it was smart in respect to its science - and we don't get nearly enough of that. What's more, there's no payoff, no grand spectacle, just the fact of a launch to end the book that we don't even get to see, much less experience. Disappointing in just about every respect. I do wonder if there's a sequel to come, but I have neither the patience nor the interest for that. http://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.ca/2013/12/from-alderaan-to-mars-disappointing.html

You know, sometimes horror really tries to do too much. There was a time when horror stories were simple . . . when they were fun and frightening . . . when they focused on actually being horrifying, rather than on trying to build some sort of thematic, allegorical commentary on the human condition. That's not to say a good horror story can't have a deeper meaning, just that I prefer it when that message doesn't get in the way of the chills. Toby Tate smartly plays with that understanding in the early chapters of The Black Church, laying the foundations for what initially seems destined to be a tale of faith and redemption. I say initially, because there comes a point where you realize he's messing with you, that all the talk of God and faith is just a smokescreen. Clear away the smoke, stare into the flames, and you find an old-fashioned horror story that delivers thrills and chills in equal measure. Take one cursed prayer rug, a family with a dark history, a series of unfortunate 'accidents', and a sort of serialized nightmare connecting them, and you've got a great little story. Tate just keeps piling on the horror, building a very effective psychological thriller that is driven by some very dark, very supernatural forces. It's a fantastic read, right up to the twist sort of ending that you can't help but see coming, even if you can't believe he actually took it there. If I were to have one minor complaint it would be that the story races along too quickly, without giving us time to really get to know any of the characters. It feels like a short story where the body count forced it to outgrow the page count. In the end, though, I'd much rather have that adrenaline rush than a novel full of fluff and padding, so let's call that a comment rather than a complaint. The contemporary story is very well told, with some real dread, and some real horror. The dream flashbacks are a nice touch, and really help to not only add some mystery, but provide a solid background for the supernatural element. All in all, a truly horrifying read. http://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.ca/2013/12/beware-black-churches-and-cursed-prayer.html

I was originally attracted to Seven Forges by the novelty or the uniqueness of its setting. It seems like the fantasy genre has taken a swing from forests to deserts over the past few years, but rarely does it do frozen wastes. Cover art to to the contrary, however, this really isn't an icebound tale. Despite that, I'm going to stick with the theme and declare that I never quite warmed up to this one. Being that it's an Angry Robot title, and they've rarely disappointed, I kept going back to it, hoping to find that 'hook' to keep me reading, but we never quite connected. Don't get me wrong, this is by no means a bad book. It's imaginative, well-detailed, and full of action. Suitably epic in terms of both world-building and mythology, it has a lot to offer fans of the genre. I found myself admiring James A. Moore a great deal, and desperately wanting to like it. The opening chapters were extraordinarily slow, requiring a great deal of dedication to get through, but I found it did get better, before ultimately exploding in a wild and frantic race to the finish. In terms of narrative, however, I found the telling a bit impersonal. I never really settled into an easy flow with it, and found myself fighting through some passages. Similarly, I didn't really find a character to latch onto as a comfortable point-of-view. The men were strong, the women gorgeous, and the monsters . . . well, monstrous. Some of the characters were interesting, particularly Merros, whom I liked a lot more than Andover, and Desh, who has some great confrontations with the likes of the Emperor, but there was nobody with whom I found myself so deeply invested in their fate that I was anxious to get back to reading. With all of that being said, the final few chapters were absolutely fantastic, with several twists and revelations that had me nodding my head and wondering where that narrative flair was early on. Like Jeff Salyard's Scourge of the Betrayer, it's not a book that is likely to make my top list for the year, but one with enough promise to make me genuinely excited about what's coming next. Despite its flaws, Seven Forges definitely showed promise, and had enough glimpses of breakthrough potential to make me wish there was a second book readily at hand to see whether that potential is developed.

If the idea of a steampunk-tinged alternate history of the wild west doesn't catch your attention; if a band of heroes that includes Doc Holliday, Buffalo Bill, and Theodore Roosevelt doesn't make you curious; and if the idea of the infamous Cope and Marsh coming face-to-face with living, breathing, man-eating dinosaurs doesn't already have you reading . . . well, I don't know what the heck is wrong with you, but maybe you should just mosey on down that there lonely path and don't you even think of looking back. Yes, boys and girls, that is The Doctor and the Dinosaurs in a nut shell. Actually, toss in a little a Geronimo's medicine man magic, and one of of Buntline & Edison's scientific marvels, and you've pretty much got the whole story. It's not particularly deep, and there's no significant character development, but that's okay because it's got Doc, it's got Dinosaurs, and it's a heck of a lot of fun. As a huge dinosaur fan, I loved the scenes with Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. Theirs is probably one of the most famous rivalries in all of science, and Mike Resnick absolutely nails both their professional passion and personal antagonism. It's a ridiculous rivalry, make no bones about it (pun intended), but one that drove the field further and faster than any sort of cooperative friendship ever could. Resnick recognizes that, and even has characters comment on it once or twice, but he certainly does enjoy exploring that passionate hatred. Doc Holliday is great, with his fatalistic sarcasm making for some of the best moments in the book, especially when he's paired with an early, pre-Presidential Teddy Roosevelt. The banter between characters is laugh-out-loud funny at times, and the moments of action are just as exciting as if there'd been any real sort of danger involved. Let's face it, we all know Doc and Teddy are going to walk away from the T-Rex unscathed, but seeing how they do it is all the fun. If you haven't read any of Mike Resnick's previous Weird West Tales, then don't let that stop you. This is my first as well, and I don't think I could have enjoyed it any more for having the experience of the back story. The Doctor and the Dinosaurs an over-the-top sort of dime-store adventure that never tries to be anything more. Sit back, suspend your disbelief, and strap in for one heck of a wild ride. http://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.ca/2013/12/sci-fi-review-doctor-and-dinosaurs-by.html

Holy crap, but The Iron Wolves was a hell of a lot of fun! It's as if Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber reached out from beyond the grave to collaborate on the kind pulp fantasy they perfected, decided to take Stallone's The Expendables as their inspiration, recruited Sam Raimi to direct the medieval mayhem, and then demanded that nothing short of the explicit, unrated director's cut make it into print. What Andy Remic has pulled together here is absolutely genius. If you've read the cover blurb then you have some idea of what to expect but, like me, you probably wondered if he really could pull it off. Well, I am here to tell you to wonder no longer - pull it off he does . . . and then some! Let's start with the heroes . . . such as they are. Thirty years ago, the Iron Wolves became the stuff of legends, holding back the hordes of monstrous mud-orcs at the Pass of Splintered Bones, and banishing Morkagoth, the evil sorcerer, from their world. That victory did not come without a price, however, and the curse they carry has left them broken and battered . . . tortured and twisted beyond measure - murderous brothers, a whoremaster, a drunken gambler, a drug addict with a cancer in her heart, a serial killer, and a torturer. They've become ugly heroes, scarred both inside and out, but they are the world's only help. If that sounds like a little much for your tastes, then all I can do is urge you to have patience. Remic puts a lot of effort into developing these characters, and there is no denying how darkly fascinating they become, or how carefully they elicit our sympathy. Seriously, you might expect to be cold and jaded by the time you meet up with Trista, the last of the Wolves to make a return, but there's such sorrow there, and such beautifully tortured motives behind her serial murder of newlyweds, that you can't help but feel for her. While much of the allure of these heroes is in just how far they've fallen, it's their camaraderie, their banter, and the core of heroism within each of them that really draws the reader in. As for the villainess, Orlana the Changer, she is a stunningly beautiful sorceress, weirdly bizarre and perverse, the kind who really evokes memories of Howard and Leiber. She's cold, cruel, and cunning, with absolutely no regard for anything but her own motivations. Not content to have the hordes of resurrected mud-orcs at her command (monstrous creatures she summons from the pits with the sacrifice of tens of thousands of men, women, and children), she is also the mistress of the splice - even more monstrous creatures formed by the imperfect, deliberately tortured splicing together of men and beasts. In terms of world-building, there's a lot hinted at and suggested here, but Remic never weighs down the story with too much extraneous detail. What settings he does indulge in, however, are exquisitely described. Rokroth is a city where you can feel the cobblestones and smell the smoke in the air; the Tower of the Moon will leave you with a feeling of vertigo, and a nauseous terror of its insane king; Skell Fortress is a haunted ruin that will chill your bones; the Splintered Pass and Desekra Fortress are as epic as any castle, wall, or final siege you can imagine, and the Suicide Forest is . . .well . . . chilling. The story moves along at an almost frantic pace, introducing the Iron Wolves, reuniting them, and seeing them into battle by the end. Along the way we see Orlana overwhelm, overpower, and overcome every obstacle in her path, with the seduction of one man possibly her darkest act. We watch as a insane king refuses to protect his realm, gleefully murdering anybody who dares speak out against him, all the while indulging himself in the most decadent vices. Most importantly, perhaps, we bear witness to the kind of brutal, poetic violence that only epic fantasy seems to manage so well. Remic weaves the dance of blades better than most, delivering on some very well-choreographed confrontations, both intimate and on a grand scale. There's a lot of blood and filth in his tale, and more than a few deaths along the way that come as something of a surprise. By the time it all comes to an end, we realize that only a fraction of the tale has been told, and that motivations and end-games have yet to be revealed . . . but we're also left wondering what might possibly be next, with an ominous cliffhanger that works precisely because there are no guarantees in his world. All-in-all, one of the most enjoyable reads I've had all year. If you don't mind your epic fantasy with a little pulp and a little profanity, and can appreciate the redemption of deeply flawed heroes, then I strongly urge you to give it a read. It is dark and grim, muddy and bloody, but it's also permeated by a very dark sort of humour that pulls it all together, making the read a raucous one. My only complaint about The Iron Wolves is that the sequel, The White Towers, is more than seven months away . . . http://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.ca/2013/12/fantasy-review-iron-wolves-by-andy-remic.html

Books are strange and wonderful things. On the surface, they are nothing more than tiny stacks of aging pages, each defaced by a perplexing pattern of black marks. Hold them the right way, however, and those black marks not only begin to take on meaning, but reveal entire worlds that cannot physically exist between pages. What's more, while the black marks themselves are fixed, their structure is fluid, revealing a new, subtly different world for each and every reader. It really is a sort of magic, and that's what Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen has attempted to capture with The Rabbit Back Literature Society. This is a story about stories . . . about experiences . . . and about the memories that connect them. On the surface, it appears to be nothing more than a quirky little mystery, prompted by the disappearance of a beloved author. Look a little deeper, however, and it soon reveals itself to be a story about the people behind the stories, and a story about where the stories come from. It's a story which is almost solely concerned with spilling the truth behind those stories, the reality behind those memories, but one which spills no truths of its own, leaving the reader to decide what the stories mean. While I think the story could have been a bit tighter, and I found the premise of 'The Game' a bit artificial, I can't deny that the story hooked me early on, and kept me reading right through to the end. What happened to Laura White? What's up with the 'plague' of altered library books? Who was the mysterious tenth member? What's with all the mythological statues? Some mysteries are solved outright, while other solutions are merely hinted at, but it all makes for a satisfying read. In terms of characters, Ella is a bit cold and distant to serve as a truly engaging narrator, but her distance does serve its purpose. As for Martti, Ingrid, Aura, and the other Society members, their eccentricities are their personalities, and even if they're really just pieces of a human jigsaw puzzle, it's thoroughly entertaining to see how those pieces fit together. I didn't necessarily buy some of the relationships, particularly that of Ella and Martti, but that discomfort of a part of the overall story experience. As for Laura White herself, she's both the most enigmatic and most fascinating character in the whole tale, and the more we learn about her past, the more we almost want her to remain missing . . . lest her return somehow damage the memories we've created on her behalf. Go into The Rabbit Back Literature Society looking for a straightforward bit of narrative prose, and you're likely to be disappointed. Prepare yourself instead for a multi-layered character study, and a sort of imaginative treatise on the act of writing (and remembering), and you'll find a lot to appreciate here. It's quirky and odd, as likely to make you raise your eyebrows as curl your lips, but it really does work. The ending is just about perfect, tying up some loose ends I was sure had been forgotten, but never forgetting that, for each reader, it must end just a little bit differently. http://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.ca/2014/01/fiction-review-rabbit-back-literature.html

"Innocent Darkness"! The first book in "The Aether Chronicles"! Just... Just look at the cover and you're floating somewhere - probably where your wildest dreams are set. I LOVE steampunk. Unfortunately, it's a subject that you don't often come across. This book combines steampunk and faeries. I think that's unique, and it's the thing that makes this book special. The only thing which I thought was negative, was in the second half of the book. In that part, there were some things which were just a little too predictable. However, it doesn't really affect the story and there are still enough surprises lukring around the corners. I'll be reading the next book. If you like steampunk and/or faeries, you should read these books as well.

What a nice little book! Finally, an author describes the world from another point of view - not from a human's, but a dragon's view. It's really funny and encourages in parts a bit meditativeness. Read and enjoy it - unfortunately, the story is not very long so the fun is over much too early.

After reading "Throne of Glass", I was afraid - terrified - to read its successor, "Crown of Midnight". I thought it would be near impossible for Maas to write a sequel which could be as fantastic as the first book. I was wrong. I can tell that "Crown of Midnight" is one of the best books I've ever read. It contains all the elements to make it unique: a daring, humouristic, young, intelligent, arrogant,... heroin, romance, magic, conspiracy and some violence. It's unbelievable how an author can write such a book. There isn't a single thing which isn't really good. One of my all-time favourites!

That story has got a nice mix of everything: a crime story in today's London, a wizard apprentice and his master, several gods and supernatural beings - it's nearly perfect. Although I'm a quite unoriented person (thanks to the people who gave us the GPS!) I liked the detailed description of London. It makes you plan your next holidays ...

I only read this because I've read all the previous books and wanted to finish the series. Blah blah blah blah is my honest opinion of this book. Harris brings like all the people that are still alive to make a cameo and then they go away and do nothing to the plot. I really liked the first Sookie-books, but unfortunately as they got worse. I think I'll take the True Blood -series as canon from now on. Even if I don't know how they finish, it can't be worse than this.

This is an anthology and there are four stories: Charlaine Harris's The Britlingens Go to Hell Nalini Singh's Angels' Judgment Ilona Andrews's Magic Mourns Meljean Brook's Blind Spot I only read Harris's and Andrews's stories, because I am not familiar with Singh's and Brook's series and not going to read those. Harris's story has nothing to do with Sookie Stackhouse, and it was boring as... hell. In Goodreads this is numbered as 9.2 in the Sookie-series, but I have no idea why. Guess I've missed some minor detail but I don't care. I did like Andrews's, because Andrea and Raphael are such a great couple. I like Andrews's Kate Daniels -series and intend to read more of her (their) work.

Nice and bit different novel about alternative fictional history between logical land of Angelica (England) and magical land of Bhatara (India). Story is quick paced, following mainly the one course of life of Tori Harding, a victorian woman who has dedicated her life to science, because her physical defect prevents her ever to marry. Her science filled life is turned upside down when her mentor, her own grandfather, is suddenly killed in weird circumstances leaving her with nothing in the man ruling field of science. To prove her worth as a serious scientist Tori decides to finish up her papa's work and find the mysterious magical flower he kept insisting excist in the continent of Bhatara. Logical Tori travels to this magical land and eventually grows to know more about this heretic, conquered land than she bargened for. A thousand perfect things is a story of a woman in a world of men and a story of perspective of looking at things. "In the panic of the moment, she blurted, "We didn't know that you hated us." "Am I to love my enemy?" He was taunting her with her own religion, teaching that even Anglics did not obey. Rising to his feet, he said, "You use love when it suits you. And guns when it does not." -quote from the book-

Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre wasn't a wholly successful anthology for me, with stories definitely heavy on the skip-it (as opposed to read-it) side, but still worth reading for the favorite author high-points. I think Paula Guran strayed a bit too far from the traditional exploration of Halloween for my tastes, but I can't fault her for trying to do something different. The first four stories in the anthology did nothing for me - although The Mummy's Heart by Norman Partridge had its moments - and had me seriously considering whether to keep reading, or just skim ahead to the authors that interested me. Fortunately, Lesser Fires by Steve Rasnic Tem & Melanie Tem was solid, and pretty much what I had hoped to see from them. As for Long Way Home: A Pine Deep Story by Jonathan Maberry, it's been a while since I've read any Maberry - the last Pine Deep novel, in fact - so it was nice to reconnect with a story that perfectly captured the thrills and chills of that trilogy . . . and which convinced me to keep reading. After another skip-it that had me doubting that decision, The Halloween Men by Maria V. Snyder turned out to be the only story in the collection that genuinely surprised me with its approach to the season. Having Halloween be the one day of the year were we don't wear masks was a neat idea, but it's Snyder's execution that makes the story work so well. Pumpkin Head Escapes by Lawrence Connolly was a great follow-up, a surprisingly strong tale that didn't play out quite as I expected, but was followed by several more stories of the skip-it variety before getting to Quadruple Whammy by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, which was not at all what I expected from her, but thoroughly enjoyable and a story that convinced me, once again, to keep reading. We, the Fortunate Bereaved by Brian Hodge and Trick or Treat by Nancy Kilpatrick were two stories I had high hopes for going into the anthology, and I'm glad to say they delivered, while All Souls Day by Barbara Roden was an interesting enough tale, but a little weak for the penultimate tale. Fortunately, And When You Called Us We Came To You by John Shirley proved to be a fantastic end to the anthology. If it doesn't have you humming the Silver Shamrock song from Halloween III under your breath as the spirits of the ancestors wreak havoc upon a slave labor Halloween mask mask factory . . . well, you're just not my kind of trick-or-treat partner. All-in-all, not nearly as creepy or as scary as I had hoped, with a few too many stories trying to be 'cute' or 'clever' in tying themselves to the holiday, but Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre still had its moments.

There are some books you devour, consuming page after page after page in a race to the end. Then there are others that you savor . . . that you take your time to digest . . . that linger on the literary palate long after the past page is turned. Joseph D'Lacey debut novel, Meat, is definitely the latter - and after being off the menu for years it's now back for a second helping. With Black Feathers being my only experience with D'Lacey, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had a good idea of the concept, but really expected more of a Twilight Zone type novel with the true nature of the meat reserved for a big, final chapter reveal. Instead, the cannibalism is front and center right from the start, with the altered livestock as blatant as it is chilling. Imagine a future dystopia where all that's left of the world is the people in it, and whatever they can grow. It's a world divided by class, with the people living under the corporate choke-hold of the Magnus Meat Processing, and guided by the religious tyranny of the Parsons of the Welfare. The most fortunate live in white-picket homes, enjoying their daily ration of meat, with just a touch of vegetables to provide a little color. The less fortunate have their vocal cords cut, their fingers and toes removed, and their freedom stripped away, leaving them - literally and figuratively - nothing more than cattle to be milked, bred, and butchered. It's a really disturbing world that D'Lacey presents here, but one that gets worse the more you think about it. When I first put the book down, I came away appreciating it, but not enjoying is as much as I did Black Feathers. While the WTF nature of Meat was fascinating, and the central conflict an interesting one, I didn't find the characters nearly as engaging or sympathetic. Richard Shanti is an interesting lead, but too bland and cold to really rouse the reader's emotions. When I started thinking about it a few days later, though, with an eye towards writing a review, I realized just how deep, how profound, and how seriously messed up the story is. It's the way D'Lacey contrasts the horror with the humanity that makes the story so effective. He takes us from scenes of human cattle being endlessly processed through a slaughterhouse, to scenes of cows and bulls enjoying a sliver of intimacy. He shows us a pair of young men cruelly torturing a human dairy cow with a high presssure hose, to a man tenderly worshiping the same dairy cow with a hose of his own. We watch a mother prostitute herself to a company man to get a little meat for her children, and then see those very same children slicing up a Barbie doll to serve, in pieces, to the toys at their tea party. Chilling stuff indeed. Like a great steak, this is not a book that can really be described. Instead, it has to be experienced to be understood. If you have an appetite for something unique, a clever mind, and a strong stomach, then give it a shot. Meat shares many of the same themes as Black Feathers, including the social conscience, but it lacks the narrative subtlety. Be prepared to think about what you're reading, and to come away from it with a newfound appreciation for life . . . and death.

Science fiction is an incredibly diverse genre, both in terms of content and in terms of storytelling. At one end of the spectrum you have your pulp sci-fi, rollicking adventure stories that often skirt the boundaries of science to tell their fantastic tales. Further along the line, at the middle of the spectrum, you find space opera, which generally uses (and often abuses) the more outlandish possibilities in science to tell a tale. Finally, at the other end of the spectrum you have hard science-fiction, which more often than not uses the techniques of the tale to convey the intricacies of its science. That, of course, is a gross simplification, but if we think of the spectrum in those terms, then Beyond the Rift is the kind of collection that often peers back towards the centre, but which is very firmly grounded in the hard. Peter Watts is an interesting guy, a scientist, an author, and something of a political philosopher. He's been described as "too dark" by some, and as both "exhilarating" and "deeply paranoid" by others. To dismiss him as just another depressing, pessimistic hard science fiction author, however, is to do him a huge disservice. Personally, I would lean more towards terms like deep, daring, and deliberately thoughtful. He's an author who isn't afraid to stare off into the bleakness of space and ponder our own insignificance, but one who also isn't afraid to look inward and question the very core of what makes us human. I won't attempt to tackle everything in the collection, but instead look at the highlights. "The Things" kicks off the anthology with, as he describes it himself, a bit of fan fiction. Watts takes the story of The Thing and turns it inside out, exploring the shapeshifting monster as not the aggressor, but the victim. He stares back at humanity from an evolutionary distance, expressing not the horror of the monster lurking inside, but the emptiness it inhabits. "The Island" is a bleak, creepy sort of tale, one that tackles the subjects of first contact, artificial intelligence, genetic manipulation, and extended lifespans. It's absolutely stunning in its ingenuity and scope, but rather cold in its long-term prognosis. "The Second Coming of Jasmine Fitzgerald" is one of my favorites, a simple story about sanity and the war between the psyche and the soul, which dares you to accept the fact that it may also be about resurrection and restoration as well. "The Eyes of God" is absolutely brilliant in its exploration of free will, of human privacy, and of the question between intent and action. It takes a bold, almost frightening twist at the end, when you find out what heinous sin the computer deemed the protagonist to be capable of, but Watts asks some crucial questions here that force the reader to come to a difficult conclusion. "Nimbus" is probably the simplest, most straightforward of all the tales, but I liked its idea of an antagonistic sky almost as much as I appreciated its exploration of a father's conflicting emotions. "Mayfly" continues with the parental theme, but takes a hard look at what happens when we dare to mess with the natural order of conception, birth, and nurturing. "Ambassador" takes another stab at the first contact story, but perverts the assumption that any race intelligent enough to make first contact must be benevolent. It's a tale with some rather chilling implications, not the least of which is how far the instinct for self-preservation can push someone. "Hillcrest vs. Velikovsky" is a short, straightforward tale that almost seems out of place in the collection, but which is still intriguing. Watts asks whether faith can really overcome human illness, and then asks whether it's a crime to reveal that placebo for what it is. It's almost a cruel sort of courtroom drama, but fascinating on an intellectual (and even spiritual) level. The collection ends with "A Niche" that, quite literally, takes us into the rift itself. It's probably the most complex narrative in the collection, one in which a woman is altered to live underwater. It's a very psychological tale, one which forces a confrontation between the scientist and the experiment. Watts baits us early and takes his time reeling us in, waiting for the very end to reveal precisely what's going on, but the payoff is worth it. Like I said, Beyond the Rift is deep, daring, and deliberately thoughtful. It's not a collection to be breezed through in a few sittings, but one which demands we pause after each story to let it settle, and to see what our imagination can make of it. It is definitely hard in the sense of where it falls in the genre spectrum, but easier reading than most tales claiming to share that same space.

Qhuinn and Blay really deserved a book of their own after all that circling each other on previous parts in BDB. What comes to the rest of the Brotherhood it seems that the final battle is near and I'm looking forward of what will happen between Wrath's Brothers, Old World's Band of Bastards and the always so uptight aristocrat's, glymera.

Carol Berg is one of my favorite writers. Her stories are mesmerizing, and her writing is on a level all its own. Once I started this book, I had a very hard time putting it down. I am very excited to start reading the second book of this series!

The first in a loosely linked trilogy, which work backwards in time from 1960 to 1860 via WW1. (Red Die and Shadowbourne are the other 2). Albion's Dream is nothing less than a modern classic. Written with a poet's eye and with a deep knowledge of landscape,, myth, archetype and character, Norman weaves a powerful story told through the young schoolboy Yeoman. He struggles with adult deception and evil via an old family heirloom game, and his realisation that playing the game is having strange repercussions in the here and now forces him to decide whether he must play to the end. If you have enjoyed Neil Gaiman, Susan Cooper or Alan Garner, you will find much here to enjoy . Albion's Dream is sure to join them on your bookshelf (real or virtual)

I really recommend Mike Miller's "The Yeti" instead for a similar but superior story. I read someone else describe it as "'King Solomon's Mines' meets HP Lovecraft," with which I agree. http://www.amazon.com/The-Yeti-ebook/dp/B00FHVNJE6 Dan Simmons' "The Abominable" is basically a far weaker version of his" The Terror," which I actually did enjoy. Both are epic, historical adventures involving frozen climates and supernatural monsters. However, this version of the same story takes all the worst qualities of "The Terror" to the extreme: long-winded exposition, slow start (over 200 pages before they even get to the mountain,) sporadic suspense in the sake of local color and history and confusing, out-of-the-blue ending. This one's for diehards only, or those in love with early 20th century mountain-climbing, of which there's far more than any monster. Again, read Mike Miller's "The Yeti" instead for a more enjoyable and fun read about treasure-hunting soldiers battling the famous monster.

Wen Spencer has written a fun romp about a girl that finds out everything she writes is comes true. Mixed with Japanese legends & Japanese setting - most of the book takes place in either Kyoto or Osaka - this is something fun for those who usually read only manga.

After slouchy start (almost gave up during first hundred pages) Siege and Strorm finally picked up some speed and intrest, mostly cause of new side character Sturmhond. His humoristic personality gave me enough strength to carry on reading and eventually the last half of the book turn out to be quite good, but it never really got me such high spirits as the first part of the Grisha trilogy did.

I absolutely loved the Elemental Mysteries by Elizabeth Hunter. I say, books and series like those make most TV and movies seem like an inferior form of entertainment. The Scribe is her newest book and I was excited to give it a try. Aaand it was wonderful! I'm quite convinced that I will love anything she writes, because there hasn't been one exception in about ten novels I've read from her. That's about everything she's published. The Scribe was so interesting! The history of the characters, the ambiance, the story itself... I just got sucked right in. I love traveling to exotic places while reading and I could just imagine I was in Istanbul myself, your writing and descriptions were that inspiring. I need to get out of the country for a while. A very good read! *** Another very, very good novel in an exotic milieu is Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, which is mostly set in Prague, Czech Republic. I want more of that. No more lil' ol' American towns, I want Jerusalem, Sao Paulo, Wien and Mumbai...

Magnificent Devices 4-book Bundle by Shelley Adina I initially obtained the first book Lady of Devices free and thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters to the point of not being able to pass up the great bargain of the 4 book bundle. I thought if they were even only half as well done as the first I couldn't go wrong. I set them aside for a bit before getting to them, but when I started I couldn't put the whole group down until I finished. Lady Claire or Claire Trevelyan daughter of Viscount St. Ives is one of the most remarkable female protagonists to come along. At the age of 17 she has been brought up proper to become a lady who will soon be offering her hand to the most eligible gentleman she can snare. The problem for Lady Claire is that despite all the efforts to cow and mold her into a pleasant perfect petticoat-ed proper lady she has other plans that can't include that gentlemen under her societies present circumstances. She wants to go to college to obtain a degree in engineering so that she can continue to pursue the passion she already has for designing and improving upon the steam driven technology that are emerging into the present era. Of course her goals are simply absurd in her day and age and she has an uphill battle, although the hill looks more like a cliff. A dreadful event changes her life and perhaps is what catapults her into having to use her wits to survive. Her father fails in a desperate gamble with combustion engines and ruins not only himself but a large number of investors. His subsequent suicide leaves his family trying to scramble up from the ashes to avoid poverty. Despite her mothers protests and preaching Lady Claire manages to free herself from tradition long enough to attempt to find a temporary job that will help her put herself through college. Because everything that Claire proposes to do is against the grain of societies rules she has a hard battle before her. Early on we discover one of Lady Claire's most prized possessions is her father's steam landau, which she uses to get around the city. It is through the theft of the landau, while she's wandered into an unsavory part of the city, that she begins to really show her mettle. Not knowing what she is facing she attempts to recover her landau from the thieves. This leads to the discovery that the thieves are mostly children. Perhaps it's a bit of that ingrained mother instinct that ultimately leads to Lady Claire taking over the 'gang'. The gang has since passed her landau off to another more dangerous gang and in exchange for Lady Claire teaching them how to make gaseous explosive devices they promise to help her gain back the landau. In the end Lady Claire ends up killing a man (Lightning Jackson) and beginning her life of crime. Lady Claire continues to search for a job while she rides herd over the gang of youths and spends her free time teaching them mathematics, chemistry, reading, writing, mechanical engineering, various poker hands and all the essentials including bomb building. Her search for a job intersects with an old family friend James Selwyn who has a business colleague Andrew Malvern who is designing a new way to make coal more efficient. James Selwyn immediately comes off as a bit of a stuffy self-involved character who has only one vision of what a woman's place in society is. This is so narrow that it precludes the probability that his efforts will damage his chances of completing the project of creating Hyper-efficient coal. Despite James effort Claire and Andrew must work around James to succeed. Eventually Lady Claire will find herself torn between the professed affections of these two men. The second book has a spot that I found to be a point of epiphany for Claire. Claire knows that if she wanted to make many things in her life easier she could Marry James as he keeps insisting he wants her to do. James has gone as far as to manipulate things in his favor despite his seeming distaste for most of what Claire represents. Because of James's cruel and insensitive nature she know that his final goal is to separate her from her life goals and from her new found family of the children she has been sheltering. She has made the children a promise and James intends on forcing her to break that promise and at this point of the book Lady Claire has a moment of clarity where she realizes that her first commitment is to the children, her new family, and that anyone who comes into her life has to be able to accept them. Clearly the children are as important to her as her goal to go to a university and become an engineer. Lady Claire seems to be more than willing and capable of handling the requirements of the average woman while still striving to obtain something that far surpasses every woman. Lady Claire is the Lady of Devices but more appropriately she is later described as the Lady of Resources which defines her much better. Lady Claire does have a mind and a inclination for devices but she seems less the inventor and more the innovator of other inventions. She surrounds herself with others with valuable skills and has set herself up as a leader of a small army that includes several other ladies of resources. James can't tolerate this and Andrew can only marvel at it all (and they only know the half of it). That does not mean that these two men are weak or less than men. James typifies everything that Lady Claire had to fight and overcome while Andrew is more tolerant and finds himself puzzling over the old paradigm of social order and this new vision that he sees working not only with Lady Claire but in the children she has in her charge. Even Lady Claire struggles with the whole new paradigm when she finds herself stifling the twins more often than not. It is hard to let go and realize that these young girls and all of her children are no longer ordinary. A majority of the successes of Lady Claire and her charges stems from not weak and inept male characters, but more so from a real existing mental attitude ingrained in the minds of those men. I've met many that exist today that have this same blind spot when trying to judge the capability of some women. It's such a powerful influence that they teach their own wives to live within the same blind spot; helping to affirm and fulfill their own skewed expectation of woman's abilities. James is a strong male character on one side of the blind spot and Andrew is a strong male character on the other side. Andrew's strength only becomes less evident to anyone looking at him from that blind spot, which is going to include a majority of those typical strong male types. Make no mistake; I loved this series of books and will be looking into the 5th book soon. I love Ms. Adina's writing style and suspect I will be tempted into reaching out of my genre preferences once again to peruse a few more of her works. Anyone who loves SteamPunk or even SFF (and is not ultra picky about the science or strict adherence to history) should love these books. For those who are picky I'd like to point out the disclaimer at the beginning which includes. [Quote] This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.[/Quote] J.L. Dobias