SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Cross Fire by Fonda Lee

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Cross Fire (Exo #2) by Fonda Lee: https://t.co/In1w8RmD2G Short Review: 7 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 31, 2018

Short Review (cont): The sequel last year's Exo finds young adult Donovan Reyes, Human Security Officer for the Collaborator/Alien gov't of Earth, forced into desperate, treasonous decisions when the Homeworld leaves Earth out to dry. Solid but way too predictable. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 31, 2018

Cross Fire is the sequel to Fonda Lee's "Exo," which was a finalist for the Norton Award for Best SF/F Young Adult Novel last year (and which I reviewed here).  Exo was an interesting SciFi novel because of its premise: the Earth had been conquered by aliens, and protagonist Donovan Reyes is a member of the Collaborator human government's security forces (SecPac), though he winds up conflicted due to discovering his mother working with an underground resistance movement.  Despite his conflict, he didn't wind up changing sides in the novel, and the novel doesn't take a standard viewpoint of "resistance = good, collaboration = bad" which made it an interesting backdrop to a story with some decently interesting characters.

Cross Fire picks up right where Exo left off (well months later, but more or less) and follows through on two of the threatened plot points from Exo - the idea that the occupying aliens are planning to leave and that a new conquering force may be coming in their stead, which might require the resistance and collaborators to cooperate in order for humanity to survive.  Protagonist Donovan Reyes and some of the side characters remain excellent here, but large parts of this plot are rather predictable and while the story has some interesting ideas, it arguably punts around halfway through instead of dealing with them.  Cross Fire isn't bad - it's totally fine, and well constructed - but it fails to live up to the potential it has in its setup, alas.

Once again, I read this book as an audiobook, where the reader is pretty good, but it means that I'll probably be misspelling terms here, so my apologies.  

More specifics after the Jump:

Spoilery Discussion: The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth J Dickinson

This post will be dedicated to a spoilery discussion of The Monster Baru Cormorant, because I have too many thoughts about the book that I need to put down somewhere and tried to make my review non-spoilery as possible (it spoils Traitor, but well, that's a given for a review of a book's sequel).

If you have not read The Monster Baru Cormorant, this is your last warning of any spoilers - do not go beyond the jump here.  My Non-Spoiler Review is HERE:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Menagerie by Rachel Vincent

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Menagerie by Rachel Vincent: https://t.co/Ll2N0ktyiT Short Review: 7.5/10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 29, 2018

Short Review (cont): In this dystopian urban fantasy novel, 20-something year old Delilah Marlow finds herself outed as a Cryptid of some unusual type & forced into captivity, searching for a way for her and her fellows to escape before she loses herself. Solid if dark. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 29, 2018

Menagerie is the first in an urban fantasy trilogy by Rachel Vincent, with the last in the trilogy coming out later this month.  It's another such series featuring mythological creatures/beings living among humanity - in this case openly with the world well aware of them.  However, it's also a kind of a dystopian novel, as an apocalyptic event has resulted in this alternate United States declaring that these creatures (categorized here as "Cryptids") have no rights and simply exist as property to be held in captivity, and deals with the situation created by forcing sentient beings into captivity in private menageries....or worse.

The result is a novel featuring a group of such beings, led by our heroine - a newcomer to this lack of rights - trying to resist this treatment in the titular menagerie.  Given the setup, its not as dark a book as you might expect (although it seems like it could be going there at some points, it never quite does), but its a nicely paced novel with an effective main character, and while it didn't blow me away, I will be trying out the sequel to see where this plot is going.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller https://t.co/SOG2ewjEHB Short Review: 8.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 26, 2018

Short Review (cont): Mask of Shadows features an utterly fantastic hero & narrator - the Genderfluid Sal, who enters a competition of Assassins in order to get revenge on those who killed their family - and thus makes this book well worth reading despite some plot issues (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 26, 2018

  Mask of Shadows is the first in a Young Adult Dark Fantasy duology by Linsey Miller, with the second book in the series having come out this year.  It's a low fantasy story - in a world where magic once existed but no longer does - featuring at its heart a competition of assassins and a protagonist with a heart dead set on revenge.

  It is also a great example of a book with a meh plot saved and made good thanks to an excellent lead character: a young gender-fluid hero seeking vengeance, whose inner voice and first person narration is fantastic, and who is very easy to root for in a dark book filled with bad people.  If you're looking for a book with a great LGBTQ hero, this will definitely be up your alley, and if you don't particularly care about that, well this hero is still fantastic to read, making this book worth your time.

  Note: I listened to this as an audiobook, and the reader is generally excellent.  There are a lot of foreign-ish sounding names in this story that you can confuse without being able to check back as easily as you can with a written book, but other than that, it's a fine choice if you're looking for a new audiobook.    

More after the Jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Space Unicorn Blues by TJ Berry

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Space Unicorn Blues by TJ Berry: https://t.co/eJuW1thymU Short Review: 7 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 25, 2018

Short Review (cont): A Space Opera featuring a half-unicorn and his former torturer working together to defy a fascist colonizing regime, Space Unicorn Blues can't seem to decide whether it wants to be a comedy or a drama and is merely good to okay as a result of it. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 25, 2018

Space Unicorn Blues is a strange book, which doesn't seem to know what it wants to be.  On one hand, it's a space opera story of a group of former enemies/allies joining together to escape an oppressive colonizing force.  On the other hand, its a light hearted romp with witty characters and situations setup by a universe featuring oppressed aliens that look just like mythological creatures from humanity's old days, such as Unicorns, Satyrs, Dryads, etc.  It's genuinely funny at times mind you, but its a little jarring considering the other themes in play in this story.

And yet for the most part, Space Unicorn Blues does work, when it could instead be an utter disaster.  I finished the book in one day, which is not something I do with books I find myself disliking, and some of the characters and worldbuilding is incredibly well done, even when it should be a little silly.

More specific talk after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Phoenix Empress by K. Arsenault Rivera

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Phoenix Empress (Their Bright Ascendancy #2) by K Arsenault Rivera https://t.co/pAtNKQmpFb Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 24, 2018

Short Review (cont): The Sequel to the fantastic "The Tiger's Daughter" switches from a Romance story in an Epic Fantasy world to an Epic Fantasy plot with romance elements as it tells the story of the traumatizing events that led Shizuka to become The Phoenix Empress. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 24, 2018

The Phoenix Empress is the sequel to one of my favorite books from last year - and one of the few books that I've ever given a perfect score to - The Tiger's Daughter (My Review Here).  So yeah, I had this book pre-ordered for around a month now, and my anticipation for it was through the roof.  In retrospect, there was nearly no way for the book to meet my expectations, so I don't want to sound too negative in this review: The Phoenix Empress is still a good book, and this series is still well worth reading.

What this book is not however is the same type of story as its predecessor.  The Tiger's Daughter was a romance set amidst the background of an Epic Fantasy Story - the entire book was essentially a confession of love from one heroine to the other.  By contrast, this book is an Epic Fantasy story with an element of romance, with part of the book being a confession of guilt (not love) from one heroine to the other and the other part sets the stage for a major epic fantasy conclusion.  The result is a far darker book, one that is still good, but not charming/funny/heartwarming like its predecessor.

More after the Jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth J Dickinson

Advance SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth J Dickinson https://t.co/9mDrMelPoz Short Review: 9 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 23, 2018

Short Review (cont): The Sequel to the perfect Traitor Baru Cormorant is a bit more of a mess than its predecessor, but still a fantastic further exploration of the costs of trying to take down a fascist empire by rising up from within. Still Devastating at times. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 23, 2018

Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher, Tor/Forge Books, in advance of the novella's release on October 16, 2018 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way (if I'd not liked the book, I just would not have reviewed it). 

  There may not have been a book I was looking more forward to this year than The Monster Baru Cormorant.  This book is the sequel to The Traitor Baru Comorant, an incredibly dark/brutal book about a brilliant woman who decides to rise up the ranks in an evil repressive empire in order to destroy it from within....no matter the sacrifices she is forced to make in the Empire's service in order to rise up the ranks.  Traitor is one of the few books that I've ever given a perfect 10 out of 10 score to, and it left off on an incredible cliffhanger.

  Monster is nowhere near as streamlined as Traitor, featuring some more elements of modern Epic Fantasy - multiple point of view characters, fantastical elements, etc - that didn't always work for me (the fantastical elements in particular).  But the overall core of this book remains absolutely incredible and the result is a strong follow up that continues asking interesting questions as it follows its protagonist along her dark path.

Note:  Spoilers for Traitor follow, there's no way to discuss this book otherwise.  Read Traitor first, You can't start this series here.  

More after the Jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Gate of Gods by Martha Wells

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Gate of Gods by Martha Wells https://t.co/OOBQ8UtqZa Short Review: 8.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 22, 2018

Short Review (cont): In the Finale of The Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, the Depressed but Ruthless Tremaine Valiarde and her friends must finally find out what happened to master sorcerer Arisilde in order to defeat the mysterious Gardier. God I love these characters so much. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 22, 2018

The Gate of Gods is the final book in Martha Wells' The Fall of Ile-Rien Trilogy, following "The Wizard Hunters" and "The Ships of Air."  Readers of this blog will remember how much I loved the first two books in the trilogy (and The Death of the Necromancer as well) and as such it didn't take me long to take out The Gate of Gods from the Hoopla e-library.

This trilogy, the story of Tremaine Valiarde and Ilias (and their friends) as they struggle against a devastatingly powerful mysterious enemy and against their own insecurities is wrapped up in this volume and the result is pretty damn good.  The book splits its cast into two yet again and switches between the two groups as they have their independent side plots, but it mostly works, and the characters remain absolutely superb - fun to read and easy to care about - as the plot rolls toward its conclusion.  Its probably my least favorite book of the trilogy, but that's not much of a negative.

Note:  Obviously, don't start the trilogy with this book, it's the finale and you'll find yourself either lost or just missing most of the connections that were based upon events in the prior two books. 

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Cold Steel by Kate Elliott

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Cold Steel by Kate Elliott https://t.co/ifiqoEYXT5 Short Review: 8.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 19, 2018

Short Review (cont): The finale to the Spiritwalker Trilogy features Cat Barahal forced to save her husband & maybe all of Europe from The Wild Hunt, a Psychopathic Fire Mage, a Conquering Warlord, and well...his own pride. Such great characters (I Love Cat) & so much fun (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 19, 2018

  Cold Steel is the final book in Kate Elliott's Spiritwalker trilogy, which began with Cold Magic (Review here) and continued with Cold Fire (Review Here).  I enjoyed Cold Magic and loved Cold Fire, so I was eagerly looking forward to the conclusion to the trilogy - even to the point of rushing to read it quickly despite having several other library books that I really ought to read first (due to oncoming due dates).

  Cold Steel doesn't disappoint as a conclusion to the trilogy, though its plot winds and twists in ways that I could never have expected.  Elliott's Spiritwalker world is immensely creative - a world where the ice age only partially ended despite it being circa 1800; a world where mage houses wield prominent power in Europe; where the Roman Empire is diminished, having not defeated Carthage, but still in existence; where the native people of the Caribbean and Americas, buoyed by magical power, resisted the evils of colonization and remain empowered; etc.  And Cold Steel shares that creativity in its plot as it finishes the story arc of our heroine, Cat Barahal, as she attempts to secure the safety of the people she loves against the many evils - both human and magical - that have come to bear against them.

  Obvious Note:  This is the final book in a trilogy.  I shouldn't have to tell you not to start this book here.  Cmon now.

SciFi Novella Review: Exit Strategy (Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells:

Exit Strategy is the fourth and final novella in Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries, which began with her Hugo and Nebula Award winning All Systems Red (Review Here), and continued in the following novellas "Artificial Condition" (Review Here) and "Rogue Protocol" (Review Here).  While it has been announced that Murderbot will return in a set of novels beginning in 2020, this is the conclusion of this story arc (so yeah, don't start with this novella).

It is, as expected, an excellent conclusion to Murderbot's arc and the first story to feature repeat characters (other than Murderbot of course).  Murderbot's human "friends" from All Systems Red return, as Murderbot finds itself compelled to rescue them from a situation that probably arose out of Murderbot's own actions in the past two novellas.  And the result is a satisfying conclusion to Murderbot's journey, both physically and emotionally.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett: https://t.co/sawKOszuFr Short Review: 9.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 16, 2018

Short Review (cont): In one of my favorite books of the year, Foundryside features a world where objects are programmed to believe reality is different than it is & a young woman must prevent the powerful from warping reality too far. Brilliant setting & characters. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 16, 2018

Foundryside is the first of a new fantasy trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett (author of "The Divine Cities" trilogy).  The Divine Cities was an absolutely fantastic work of worldbuilding, creating a fantasy world with very different magical rules that consistently fascinated as new aspects of it got introduced.  The trilogy also featured some fantastic characters, with their own brilliant traits and traumas that made them incredibly easy to like/root-for.  So after burning through that entire trilogy in a total of four days earlier this year (the whole book was in the Hugo Packet), I was really looking forward to what Bennett would put out net.

Foundryside does not disappoint.  The worldbuilding is even more fantastic than in The Divine Cities - here we have a world where technology is based upon inscribing symbols onto objects to "convince" those objects they're actually something else - essentially altering reality.  The implementation of this is so incredibly clever, especially as the book goes on, and the book adds in top notch characters nearly up to the standards of the previous trilogy.  And like the prior trilogy, this story weaves in serious themes - such as oppression, discrimination, and class struggles - seamlessly to create a more resonant story.

Definitely recommended.

More after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Queen of Crows by Myke Cole

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Queen of Crows by Myke Cole: https://t.co/5iVjfH75tY Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 15, 2018

Short Review (cont): The sequel to The Armored Saint follows young heartbroken teen Heloise as she attempts to use her powered armor to lead her village against a fascist army. But will they really follow an untrained girl? Still good, more so if you like battle scenes (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 15, 2018

The Queen of Crows is the second in Myke Cole's "Sacred Throne" trilogy of short novels and is the sequel to his novel from earlier this year, The Armored Saint (Review Here).  The Armored Saint was rather dark and its results were very predictable (the cover was a major spoiler, for real), but its worldbuilding and characters were extremely interesting and I was looking forward to where Cole took the story in the follow-up.

I can safely say that The Queen of Crows is far less predictable in how it plays out and remains rather interesting and worth a read for those who don't mind darker fantasy stories.  It....seems to hand-wave away one of the major interesting aspects of its worldbuilding from the first book, but its main heroine's journey in this book is so interesting that it hardly matters.  The result was a second book I enjoyed a good bit even though I'm not really that interested in battle scenes, which take up a good portion of the last act of the book, and I look forward to the finale to this trilogy.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Ships of Air by Martha Wells

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Ships of Air by Martha Wells: https://t.co/AQoec7kx3o Short Review: 9 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 12, 2018

Short Review (cont): When Tremaine Valiarde, Ilias and crew attempt to help a cruise ship bring refugees through a parallel world, they run up against dangerous sorcery within and without that threaten them all. Love these characters so much, a fun 2nd book in a trilogy. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 12, 2018

The Ships of Air is the second book in Martha Wells' Fall of Ile-Rien Trilogy (and the fourth in her greater Ile-Rien setting) and the follow up to her "The Wizard Hunters."  I really enjoyed The Wizard Hunters, so it didn't take long for me to jump into the sequel, which picks up right where the first novel left off.

And well, I was not disappointed one bit - The Ships of Air is probably the best of the trilogy, and is maybe the best of Well's Ile-Rien universe.  Our fantastic characters from The Wizard Hunters return and are further developed, and just are amazing to follow (and sometimes hilarious) and the plot twists and turns and excites constantly.

Note: Do not start this trilogy here, you will be lost and miss some of the great relationship-building done in the first book.  Start with The Wizard Hunters.  

More after the Jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Within the Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Within the Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan: https://t.co/lGZtP8EUtt Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 11, 2018

Short Review (cont): The Final Memoir of Lady Trent, Dragon Naturalist follows Isabella as she discovers a new type of Draconic being that will change the world forever. A solid conclusion to a really fun series, even if not the best book of the five. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 11, 2018

Within the Sanctuary of Wing is the final novel in Marie Brennan's "Memoirs by Lady Trent" series, which began with "A Natural History of Dragons" and was nominated for Best Series at last year's Hugo Awards.  I enjoyed the first two novels of this series, really liked the third, and loved the fourth novel, so I was both looking forward to this novel and saddened to find out that no more books would be forthcoming.

Within the Sanctuary of Wings is more on par with the first two books of the series for me than books 3-4.  By which I mean it's a fun book with some really good moments, but never really reaches the highs of those middle books.  It's still a fun book featuring a fantastic main character on a journey to a foreign land (in a foreign world) for scientific discovery - looking for a new type of dragon once again.  It also wraps up the series very nicely in the end, and I definitely would still recommend this series to SF/F readers looking for a fun series with witty and enjoyable characters with a plot that isn't yet another "save the world" quest - rather a journey of scientific discovery.

Note: I read this book as per usual as an audiobook, and the reader is very good, so if you're looking for audiobooks to read, please give it a shot.  All five books are available as hoopla borrows if your library subscribes to Hoopla.

SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard

Full Disclosure:  In the Vanishers' Palace was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley in advance of the novella's release on October 16, 2018 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way (if I'd not liked the book, I just would not have reviewed it). 

  In the Vanishers' Palace is the newest novella from SF/F author Aliette de Bodard (who I've previously reviewed on this blog here and here).  The author described it as "dark retelling of Beauty and the Beast where they are both women & the Beast is a dragon, inspired by Vietnamese myths" and to some extent, that's a pretty accurate summation of what you're getting here.  But that's an oversimplification that doesn't do justice to the story.  What this story definitely is though is an utterly charming and wonderful novella that I quite wholly recommend.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Severance by Ling Ma

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Severance by Ling Ma https://t.co/8L46wYI9Tk Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 9, 2018

Short Review (cont): When a plague that causes its victims to repetitively perform a routine behavior over and over to death causes the apocalypse, office worker Candace finds herself a survivor without anything to do among similar others. Fascinating, if maybe long (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 9, 2018

Severance is a really interesting short novel, one that reminded me of a few other novels in the very basics of its plot and its plot structure but definitely felt unique in how it approached this plot.  On the surface, it's a post-apocalyptic piece of scifi, set after a disease called Shen Fever wiped out most of the world, with the story alternating between following our protagonist, Candace Chen, before the fall of society and afterwards.

What makes this different from some similar plot setups (for example, Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven comes to mind) is that the disease in question isn't simply some plot device for starting the apocalypse.  Instead, the concept of Shen Fever - that it makes its victims obsessed with constantly repeating an ordinary part of life over and over until they die - is contrasted with the ordinary lives of people in general, both before and after The End, to create a rather interesting dynamic.  The result is a post-apocalyptic novel with some interesting thoughts about our lives today, although I still felt this short novel (just under 300 pages) is probably slightly too long.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Clockwork Boys by T Kingfisher

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Clockwork Boys by T Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon): https://t.co/MhfqhJ5TAk Short Review: 7 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 9, 2018

Short Review (cont): A Short Novel featuring a Fallen Paladin, a Forger, an Assassin, & a scholar as they are forced into a perilous journey to discover the secret behind a magical weapon. Dark and enjoyable with some fun moments, but blatantly only 1/2 of the story. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 9, 2018

Clockwork Boys is the first of a duology of short novels by T Kingfisher (which for those who don't know, is children's fantasy author Ursula Vernon's adult fantasy pen name).  For those unfamiliar with Vernon/Kingfisher, her fantasy works exhibit an incredible amount of imagination, often resulting in some pretty unique combinations of ideas, with wit and humor even in some stories that can get pretty dark.

Clockwork Boys is pretty much exactly that - a dark (though not TOO dark) fantasy story featuring a series of DnD like characters (A Paladin, a Rogue, an Assassin, and a Monk) on a suicide mission against a foe that has seemingly been unstoppable.  It's very enjoyable....but also very much half of the story to be told, with the second half clearly saved for the sequel.  Still, for the price it is online ($4.99), it's worth a look:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust https://t.co/kwzp0RzOnJ Short Review: 7.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 5, 2018

Short Review (cont): An Afrofuturist story about two black nerds in Edmonton getting involved in a conflict btwn rival groups of nerdy gangs & a mysterious woman over a dangerous psychedelic drug and an ancient artifact. Off the wall crazy at times, but it generally works (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 5, 2018

Some good books are straightforward and pretty easy to review.  Bad books are also fairly easy to review (most of the time) because it's easy to point out their flaws and leave it at that.  And then there are books which are simply....out there, doing a whole lot of crazy things at once, succeeding-at least some of the time, resulting in a pretty strange reading experience that leaves you with a lot to think about and you with some confusion over whether or not the book is good or not.

The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad is one such book, if you couldn't tell from the title.  While sometimes its narrative is pretty straightforward (usually when our main hero is telling the story) for large parts of the book it is utterly all over the place - with different characters talking and describing things in very very different ways, as if the book was being spoken aloud instead of just being text (that there is no audiobook version of this book is both ironic and kind of appropriate, as it would ruin a large part of this effect).  Oh and the book is incredibly nerdy, with references up the wazoo to nerd culture - it's not exactly a Black version of Ready Player One - the nerd culture references are more incidental than a specifically important part of the plot - but I guess it's kind of close.

More after the Jump

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Born to the Blade (Season 1) by Michael Underwood, Malka Older, Cassandra Khaw, and Marie Brennan

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Born to the Blade (Season 1) by Michael Underwood, Marie Brennan, Malka Older, & Cassandra Khaw: https://t.co/VyNmpg2ulE Short Review: 7.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 4, 2018

Short Review: In a fantasy/steampunk world with flying countries and magic based upon carving sigils in the air with swords, diplomacy is conducted via both words and dueling in a neutral territory, but the balance of power hangs on a knife edge. Lot of promise here. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 4, 2018

Born to the Blade is one of the newer "serials" from Serial Box Publishing.  For those new to Serial Box, it is a publisher that, rather than publishing novels, publishes "seasons" of novelette length of stories written by a group of authors that combine to make one long story, as if each story is an "episode" of a TV Show, with new episodes coming out every week during a season.  I've really enjoyed one Serial Box series - Bookburners - and had mixed results with some of the other, so I was curious about Born to the Blade when I saw it was written by a bunch of writers I've enjoyed in other works.

And for the most part I enjoyed Born to the Blade, although the season ends just as it's getting really interesting and wasn't completely satisfying.  It creates a fantasy world where the world's powers live on islands in the sky and where magic is crafted by skilled wielders of blades who carve sigils to various effects and where diplomacy between the world's powers is ostensibly done by duels with such blades.  And it contains people whose birth place's provide magical birthrights that alter their very beings in different ways, adding even more variety to this world.  Add in some interesting characters, each with their own agendas and rarely fitting into categories of "good" or "evil" (although there are some clear good and bad guys), and you have a very interesting story that I look forward to reading more of in a second season.

Note:  With the exception of Bookburners Season 3, I've generally not read Serial Box seasons as intended, binging them as if they were novels instead of episodes of a TV show.  Same thing for me here, so keep that in mind: my experience may not be quite the intended one.     

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan: https://t.co/4maRkXxTG1 Short Review: 9 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 2, 2018

Short Review (cont): The Fourth book of the "Memoirs of Lady Trent," Dragon Naturalist, is the best in the series, following Isabella as she attempts to breed Dragons in the desert country of Akhia, reunites with old friends, and makes the find of a lifetime. So Great. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 2, 2018

In the Labyrinth of Drakes is the fourth book (of 5) of Marie Brennan's Memoirs of Lady Trent, which follow Isabella, Lady Trent, as she travels the world to study Dragons.  I've said before how much I've enjoyed this series (which got a "Best Series" nomination in last year's Hugo Awards), and I'd previously noted that the series had seemed to get better with every additional book.  The series through 3 books had become maybe a bit formulaic (though again, I enjoyed that formula), but In the Labyrinth of Drakes actually mixes up that formula quite a bit - and the result is the best book in the series so far.

As you might expect, the fourth book in a series is not the best place to pick it up, and that's definitely the case here - this book heavily picks up plot threads from the prior three books and a character from book 3 returns and plays a major role here and new readers will miss quite a lot.  But this book pays off those older plot threads in spades, and its final 40% just made me incredibly happy when I was listening to it (as an audiobook) in the car.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Cold Fire by Kate Elliott

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Cold Fire by Kate Elliott: https://t.co/oLVWH8U2Hy Short Review: 9 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 1, 2018

Short Review (Cont): The sequel to Cold Magic follows its heroine Cat as she comes to an alternate version of the Caribbean, has romances with fire and cold mages, and tries to save her cousin from the Wild Hunt and the ambition of General Camjiata. Soooo damn good. (2/3)

— garik16|CanesFan (@garik16) October 1, 2018

Cold Fire is the second book in Kate Elliott's Spiritwalker trilogy after the series' first book, Cold Magic (Review Here).  I liked Cold Magic a bit, but it was a bit slow at first and involved an incredible amount of worldbuilding, such that while the plot eventually moved on a pretty great pace (I couldn't put it down in the second half), it was almost hard to absorb everything the book was throwing at me.  Cold Fire's story picks up immediately after Cold Magic and makes damn good on all that worldbuilding, even as it expands the world further, taking us from an alternate version of Europe to an alternate version of the Caribbean.

This is the fourth completed series by Kate Elliott that I've had the pleasure of reading (Jaran, Crossroads, Court of Fives), and Cold Fire continues a trend from those series:  The second book is at least as good as the first, if not substantially better.  And Cold Fire is really good - our main character and her love interest remain excellent and interesting characters, some of the secondary characters previously only given small mention are expanded in interesting ways, and the plot surprises on numerous occasions.

Note: If it wasn't obvious from the above, you will be endlessly confused if you start the story here instead of with Cold Magic.  Don't do that.

More after the Jump: