Thursday, September 28, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Empire of Ivory (Temeraire #4) by Naomi Novik



Naomi Novik's Temeraire series is probably the series I am the most confused about as compared to any other book series I've read in a long time.  It's a series where for multiple books I've found myself sort of skimming through parts - parts that aren't meant to be busywork but major parts of the book - in sort of a lack of interest.  On the other hand, it's a series where I've ended every book really wanting to know more and I find myself immediately reserving the next book from the library.

Empire of Ivory is no different.  This is the fourth Temeraire book, and in theory you could start with this book, but I really wouldn't recommend it, as it follows up pretty straight on from the end of Black Powder War (just like Black Powder War followed straight on from Throne of Jade).  If you liked Books 1-3 of this series, you'll enjoy this one as well.  If not, well, obviously you won't find much difference here.  I will say this one does for the first time since Book 1 really involve inter-dragon relations, which is a nice change.

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Sunday, September 24, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Caledonian Gambit by Dan Moren


The Caledonian Gambit is a SciFi spy thriller - a combination of genres that I've really enjoyed in my life.  This is Dan Moren's debut novel and well....it shows.  It seems from reading this like this is possibly the start of an intended new series (although I don't see a sequel novel scheduled on Amazon) but well, the book failed to really get me to care enough to carry on with any sequel.  There's nothing offensive or ACTIVELY irritating about this book, but there's just not a lot to like here - in better hands/editing, it's possible this story could have worked a lot better for sure.  But alas, that's not the book we have here, so this is not really a book I can much recommend.

Quick disclaimer before the jump: I "read" this book as an audiobook and the audiobook reader is in my opinion terrible - he sounds bored while reading non-dialogue, and then decides to portray accents in the dialogue in the most obnoxious ways possible - the accent of multiple characters is done as if its an extreme Irish accent and its really painful to listen to.  It's possible the book reads better on paper - if you're interested in the book, I would recommend not reading it via audiobook.

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Friday, September 22, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Call of Fire (Blood of Earth #2) by Beth Cato


Call of Fire is the sequel to Breath of Earth and thus second in Cato's Blood of Earth series (which is listed on the author's website as a trilogy, but I wouldn't be surprised if it goes longer for reasons discussed below).  It's not a stand alone book in any shape or form, as it continues the story directly from Breath of Earth and ends on several major cliffhangers.  If you enjoyed Blood of Earth a lot, you'll like this book, as it's a lot of the same.  If, like me, you enjoyed Blood of Earth a bit but found it short of breaking into being truly great, you might be a little underwhelmed by Call of Fire.

Call of Fire continues the story of Ingrid Carmichael as she attempts to discover more about who and what she is and how she and her friends can save the World before a seemingly power-mad Japanese Kitsune finishes her genocide against the Chinese and destroys America for her own nebulous purposes.  Again, this is an alternate history in which the magic and magical creatures exist, where (steampunk-esque) technology is largely driven by earth-magic contained in magical stones, and where a Japanese-American alliance ended the Civil War and resulted in a major influence of Japan on American life.

More after the Jump (Spoilers for Breath of Earth in the Plot Summary)

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Saturday, September 16, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Breath of Earth by Beth Cato


Breath of Earth is the start of a new series (Trilogy?) by Beth Cato.  Set in an alternate history in 1906 San Francisco, this is a world in which The US has joined forces with Japan in an attempt to dominate the world with magical power.  In addition to the magical fantastic beasts which exist in this world, a well known magical power is Geomancy, which enables particular men to feel and contain power from earthquakes.  This power can then be absorbed into a special magical stone, which can contain the power for use in technology such as airships.

That said, the combination of Japan and early 20th century America results in horrible things happening to other cultures, particularly those of Chinese origin.  And Women aren't exactly expected to be able to wield such power either.  The result of this background is a story where people who in the real world wielded power in dangerous ways toward minority groups have even more power, and our protagonists discover this the hard way.

That said, while this is not a book where the main characters are having fun, it's definitely the start of what is shaping up to be an interesting tale of discovery and adventure by an excellent cast of characters who realize they need to take action to try stop such evils...or at least to prevent greater harm.  This story is definitely not stand-alone - it ends on a cliffhanger - but it's a very solid beginning.

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Thursday, September 14, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: Mira's Last Dance (Penric & Desdemona #4) by Lois McMaster Bujold

Mira's Last Dance (4th Published story in the Penric & Desdemona series) by Lois McMaster Bujold

Mira's Last Dance is the fourth (in publication, fifth chronologically as Bujold published a midquel last month) in the Penric and Desdemona series of Novellas.  It's also a direct sequel to "Penric's Mission," concluding the story of Penric's journey with Arisaydia and Nikys.  It's also the shortest Penric story, which is especially notable after Penric's Mission which is by far the longest.

The story in sum:  As Penric attempts to lead Nikys and her brother to Orbas, the trio take refuge in a brothel, where Penric gets the idea to pose as a courtesan - with the help of his demon's past life as the Courtesan Mira of Adria - in order to aid their journey to safety.  But the demon remnant of Mira has her own ideas of how this strategy can work, and it could risk them everything....and perhaps ruin his relationship with Nikys, with whom he has become more and more smitten.

As usual, Bujold's story has some excellent and witty dialogue, particularly between Penric and Desdemona and her multiple personalities.  The story is surprisingly unpredictable, with an ending that rings true.  That said, the shortness of this story is definitely notable especially compared with its predecessor and Bujold time-skips over the most notable event in the story.  I'm not sure if I'd want to read what exactly happens during that time jump (not spoiling, sorry), but it's a weird situation to set up a major cliffhanger and then just jump to "Yeah it worked out perfectly okay!"  Still, I've enjoyed this as I've enjoyed this whole series so far - Bujold stories remain light and fun, even if occasionally heartbreaking, and I look forward to reading the next Penric story once my library has it in audiobook.
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Wednesday, September 13, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Novella Review:  River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey: 

River of Teeth is a novella by Sarah Gailey with what seems like a fun premise - it's an alternate history where the US has actually followed through on a plan to import Hippos for transport in the marshlands of the Mississippi River. In this world, Hippos in the area are used like horses, and wild "feral" hippos in the water can be immensely dangerous.

The story follows former hippo rancher and current hippo wrangler Winslow Houndstooth as he gathers a gang of fellow Hippo-riders, including a non-binary planner named Hero, the Con Woman Archie, assassin Amelia, and sharpshooter Cal, in order to enact a crazy plan to drive the rabid feral hippos out of the Mississippi and out of the US.  Oh and he's also seeking revenge on the ones who destroyed his ranch.  And in the meantime, Houndstooth may also be falling in love with Hero, which could complicate things.

As you could guess from the names I just listed above, this novella is the very opposite of subtle.  Maybe a Hippo Western would be hard to write as subtle, but the characters in this Novella are so exaggerated it gets really really silly.  The story is fun, but it's hard to not break into laughing at points even where you're really not supposed to.  Worth a read, though not a must read.
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Monday, September 11, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Ruin of Angels (Craft Sequence) by Max Gladstone





The Ruin of Angels is the sixth published (and sixth chronolically) book in Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence series, which is probably my favorite ongoing series at this point of time.  The Craft Sequence series tells stories in a world where magic (or "Craft") follows rules of Law and Economics and where Gods are essentially corporations and uses this setting to tell stories with themes centered around real world issues (The First Five books deal essentially with fantasy versions of Gentrification, Water Rights, Bankruptcy and Fiduciary Duties, and Offshore Banking).

The first four published books (Chronologically books 3, 2, 1, and 5) were easily stand alone novels that could be read in any order.  The fifth published book, Four Roads Cross (4th Chronologically) could sort of be read stand-alone, but was very clearly a sequel to the First Published Book, Three Parts Dead (3rd Chronologically).

This book, The Ruin of Angels, is similar to Four Roads Cross, in that it's a stand alone story, but at the same time is very much a sequel to the book that proceeds it chronologically, Full Fathom Five (published 3rd).  You could start the series with this book using a quick summary like the one on the Tor website here - but Full Fathom Five might be the best in the series so I'd strongly recommend you start there first (and then you can go right to this book without reading the others if you want).

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Saturday, September 9, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Brightest Fell (October Daye Book # 11) by Seanan McGuire


The Brightest Fell is the eleventh book in the October Daye series, an urban fantasy series set in San Francisco (and the Fae equivalents).  For those unfamiliar with the series, this is a Fae Fantasy series, following the actions of October "Toby" Daye, private investigator, knight, hero of the realm, and oh yeah, half-human changeling, as she attempts to solve mysteries, missing-persons cases, and other situations that come up that threaten the Fae world.

Like every book in the series, the book starts with Toby narrating events in a way to sneak in a summary of what's happened so far (and this book also comes with a quick intro to the series before the story begins).  So in theory you COULD start with this book....but I would NOT recommend it, as this book's main plot deals with one of the bigger mysteries in the series, and will lose a lot of its impact if you haven't read the prior books.

In addition, this book is almost certainly the darkest book in the series (MAYBE Book 5 comes close, but I don't think it does), and several of the major characters are sidelined by the plot.  So it's not as fun as much of the series.  If you've enjoyed the series previously, you'll really enjoy this book.  But it might be tricky if you start here.

One more thing before the Jump: This book also contains a bonus Novella "Of Things Unknown" which takes place from the perspective of April O'Leary and deals with the events of Book 2.  Since it's included in every version of this book, I'll be including the novella as part of my review.

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Thursday, September 7, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Black Powder War (Temeraire #3) by Naomi Novik


Black Powder War is the third in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series.  This is a book that continues pretty much right where book two - Throne of Jade - left off, starting with Temeraire in China and following his journey back home into two theatres - Turkey and Prussia - where Laurence and Temeraire and the crew attempt to further the British Cause.  Again, the story largely expands the world, and really introduces the disgraced dragon Lien as a new major antagonist for the series. Again, like Throne of Jade, it's an enjoyable story, and some of the new characters are nice additions, but it's really nothing special.

More after the Jump.

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Tuesday, September 5, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett

The Space Between the Stars is a pretty good example of a book where the individual pieces are much much worse than the whole.  I'm very happy I'm not a professional reviewer, as explaining how I feel about this book is really difficult.  I listened to this book as an audiobook and the book frequently features some stilted writing, one main character who gets practically no development and one who is just plain annoying by design.  And yet this book, which features a postapocalypse universe (ala Station Eleven, as a total package DOES seem to work and I did like it in the end, even as I know I was often exasperated when I was in the middle.

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Sunday, September 3, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Blackthorne by Stina Leicht (The Malorum Gates #2)

Blackthorne is the sequel to Cold Iron, a "Flintlock" epic fantasy book written in 2015 that I liked a bit (My review on twitter can be found here).  By "Flintlock" Fantasy (the author's description, not moine), the author simply means that while this is clearly an epic fantasy story, and some characters do carry swords, combat is more often done with flintlock rifles and muskets - we're dealing with a 17th-18th century-esque fantasy world, not middle ages.

In Cold Iron, our main characters were Kainen, magical beings (think: Elves) facing, among other things, the threat of an invading empire of non-magical human beings.  All of our main characters had some magical abilities - Suvi had the magical ability to command others into doing what she wants, Ilta is a magical healer with scrying/future-seeing abilities, and Nels, while he mysteriously doesn't seem to have command magic, at the very least has the ability to see the lives of those who he kills with his sword (not exactly the most useful or desirable ability).

Blackthorne on the other hand introduces several new main point of view characters who are in fact Human, and lack magical abilities, and deals with several of the humans of the invading Empire. We learn more about that human empire and the demons - the Malorum of the series title - that are infesting it.  It's an expansion of the world of Cold Iron and for the most part it works - the new characters and world are interesting (even if none of it is original).  Unfortunately, the book too often feels like it's telling two different stories that aren't really connected to one another and the book doesn't succeed in wrapping everything up into a satisfying ending.

More after the jump, with minor plot spoilers for Cold Iron:

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