REVIEW SUMMARY: Interesting premise, poor execution, vital to understanding Halo 4.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The black ops squad Kilo-Five has a staggering revelation but there is no time to consider the implications because one of their operatives goes silent on a hostile world. As civil war erupts on Sanghelios, the UNSC Infinity prepares to undergo a test run using live targets and live munitions. And ancient evil waits to be awakened.

MY REVIEW
PROS: Great ideas, essential to understanding what is going on in Halo 4.
CONS: Flat characters, repetitive character descriptions, not very engaging.
BOTTOM LINE: Recommended for Halo fans exclusively.

An hour into playing Halo 4 I found myself asking a lot of questions. Who is this Didact fellow? What is Requiem? Why are the Covenant suddenly attacking me – didn’t we have a truce at the end of Halo 3? How did the UNSC build a 6 kilometer long space ship? It’s a good thing that I play the Halo games for the shooting and not the actual storytelling. If I want to learn anything about the Halo universe I just turn to the tie-in fiction that has done such an amazing job of expanding the lore. Authors like Eric Nylund, William C. Dietz, Tobias S. Buckell, and Joseph Staten have written wonderful novels that support this monolithic franchise. Two new authors have been added to the roster, the much celebrated Greg Bear (whose Forerunner novels I have yet to dig into) and Karen S. Traviss, an author with much tie-in fiction experience. Halo: The Thursday War is the second entry in the Kilo-Five trilogy, which is itself an indirect sequel to Eric Nylund’s Halo: Ghosts of Onyx. Relating to the canon, Halo: The Thursday War takes place just prior to the events of Halo 4. So how does it stack up compared to the rest of the family?

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REVIEW SUMMARY: A second Sword and Sorcery from Howard Andrew Jones that improves and deepens his characters and world.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Dabir and Asim return, and face an ancient sorcery that threatens to unleash a new Ice Age upon the world.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Strong characters, excellent sword and sorcery action. Always entertaining. Characters grow and develop.
CONS A couple of sequences are a bit unclear.
BOTTOM LINE: A marriage of strong characters and stronger action and adventure that rarely flags or goes below 50 miles per hour.

In The Desert of Souls, Howard Andrew Jones introduced us to an 8th Century Baghdad of Arabian Days and Nights. In the personages of Dabir, a scholar not unfamiliar with a blade, and Asim, a guard captain who is much more than muscle, we were given a glimpse into a mostly historical Middle East. Mostly, if you don’t count animated monkeys, dark sorcerers and strange magical cities in an alternate world desert realm. The successful defeat of the forces of evil left Dabir and Asim high in the esteem of the Caliph, with the blessing to go on to the scholarly city of Mosul in the north.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: Important to the dystopian genre, but a difficult and often boring read.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The diary of a member of the OneState who begins to question his life and the virtues of the state, due to the attention of a rebellious woman.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: interesting ideas, historical significance
CONS: unsympathetic characters, disjointed narrative, scarce descriptions
BOTTOM LINE: Many of the themes and plot points used in We are also used in the more readable – and more famous – 1984.

D-503, builder of the INTEGRAL, the space ship that will bring the OneState to the stars, starts this missive with the intent of including it in the propaganda transported by the ship. But his treatise on the virtues of the OneState gets hijacked when the mysterious I-330 crosses his path. Suddenly his writing is more about dreams and hopes than the realities of life and the happiness brought by a lack of freedom.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: Zahn channels the spirit and energy of the original trilogy.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The Emperor and Darth Vader may be dead, the Death Star destroyed, but the war has not yet been won. Struggling under the responsibility of politics and diplomatic duties Luke, Han, and Leia now face a new challenge. On the outskirts of the New Republic a brilliant Grand Admiral is gathering the remnants of the Empire in order to strike at the heart of the Rebels.

MY REVIEW
PROS: Zahn accurately portrays well known characters, the fight against the Empire didn’t end with the Ewoks on Endor, Grand Admiral Thrawn is a superb villain, author’s notes enhance the experience.
CONS: Luke is sort of a sissy, too many cases of coincidence, Mara Jade isn’t all she’s cracked up to be, Grand Admiral Thrawn might be too smart.
BOTTOM LINE: Despite some flaws this is still better than anything offered in Episodes I-III and the 20th Anniversary Edition is a great collector’s item.

The news of Disney buying Lucasfilm accomplished something that I never would have thought possible. It got me excited about Star Wars again. I used to be a major fan of the series as I think most kids are. My aunt took me to see the original trilogy when the movies were re-released to theaters in the 90′s. At the time Taco Bell had promotional Star Wars toys and I also got my first battery-powered lightsaber. It was the Golden Age of my childhood. I continued to love the series well into my teenage years. It wasn’t the new trilogy that killed it for me (although that was the start), but the CGI movie, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and the Cartoon Network show it spawned. I hadn’t looked back since…that is, until the news of Disney’s acquisition.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: A redundant and uninteresting read.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Jack Casey, retired soldier in England’s collaborator army, is brought back to track down a renegade friend in a reverse-colonization novel set in England.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Writing is solid, flows well.
CONS: Boring, redundant, and elements of racism present.

Land of Hope and Glory by Geoffrey Wilson takes its name from the patriotic British song that most Americans would recognize as Pomp and Circumstance (if you’ve ever sat through a graduation, you’ll know it). The association here is linked to a tightly nationalistic one, where a country’s people can band together under a common appreciation for the simple fact that they live within the same borders as one another. Never mind that this is an enormously complicated issue, one that seems to be the driving force behind the first book in this series. In an alternative history, magic is present in the world, and in a stunning twist of fate, England has been colonized by India, where the English find themselves under harsh foreign rule.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: An exceedingly grim trip through a village of the damned.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Details the childhood stories of a group of friends in a tiny German village that makes the idea of a holiday in The Village of the Damned look like a great idea.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Parts of this book are beautifully written and some scenes are haunting in a very stark, stripped down way.
CONS: Unrelentingly grim, could not connect with any of the characters at all.
BOTTOM LINE: I really wanted to like this, but while it wasn’t badly written, it was akin to watching a train wreck as it proceeds to its inevitable horrid conclusion.

When a group of childhood friends gather together in the German village of their youth to attend a funeral, one of their group waits until after the service, when everyone is gone, lifts her skirt, squats, and pees on the fresh grave of her childhood friend. This pretty much sets the tone for one of the strangest books I’ve read this year.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: Cooper marries the classic SF trope of a Generation Starship to an intensely character-driven drama with a fascinating main character.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Ruby Martin, bot technician trainee on a class-riven generation starship, struggles for freedom and the rights of her underclass peers.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Captivating main character; strong character-focused story with strong themes; stunning cover art.
CONS: A couple of Ruby’s relationships feel a bit false.
BOTTOM LINE: The Creative Fire is a powerful opening half to a planned diptych of novels.

Ruby Martin lives on The Creative Fire, a generation starship, making its way between the stars. As one of the underclass, called ‘greys’ by the classes above her, she feels she is destined to live out her life as a robot technician quietly toiling away, unappreciated and unnoticed, in the bowels of the ship.  An accident exposes Ruby to the world above. At the same time, the shakeup caused by the accident provides Ruby with the opportunity to try and reach that greater world. Little does Ruby realize that her gifts are stronger than she suspects, and her charisma, voice, thirst for knowledge, and potential leadership skills are perhaps more powerful than any weapon on board the ship, if she is only allowed the chance to use them.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: My first Warhammer 40K novel — definitely won’t be my last.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Follows the adventures of Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn as he fights evil in the name of the Holy Emperor…and chronicles his dangerous relationship with the ways of Chaos.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Stellar world building; superb storytelling; nonstop pacing; memorable worlds and characters; utterly engrossing; leaves you wanting more.
CONS: I kid you not when I say “none”.
BOTTOM LINE: A book that has rekindled my love of reading.

The Warhammer 40K novels have been on my radar for some time. I had dabbled in some audio short stories and enjoyed them quite a bit, but fellow sf fans had even better things to say about the novels, particularly those of WH40K veteran, Dan Abnett. Start with Eisenhorn, they said. I finally took the plunge and my only regret is that I wish I had listened sooner.
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REVIEW SUMMARY: Fans of vampire lore, calisthenics, and combat tricks will appreciate this offering from the creator of The Zombie Combat Manual.

MY RATING: 

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Ma knows what he’s talking about, from his logical take on the Vampire myth to his no-nonsense approach to fitness in a bloodsucker’s world.
CONS: Is sometimes too similar to the The Zombie Combat Manual, but since the books are meant to be part of a series, it can be overlooked.
BOTTOM LINE: An entertaining concept, executed well.

There are three main threads running through this book simultaneously: a discussion of the “truth” about vampires, first hand “accounts” of survivors and ghouls, and an easy-to-understand guide to preparing for a vampire attack.  The vampire facts weren’t that different from what gets discussed with some seriousness by people who think the Twilight movies were way off base. Obviously, vampires don’t sparkle, turn into mist, or want to have sex with you. According to Ma, all of those myths are part of a carefully conceived plan by the creatures of the night to confuse us humans.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: McDonald proves the concept of his world of the Infundibulum has legs, and provides some intriguing new ideas amid an entertaining adventure.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Fleeing Charlotte Villers and seeking a way to find and rescue his father, Everett and his friends aboard airship Everness discover why a particular world is off limits.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Lots of ideas thrown out and explored; good development of main characters.
CONS: The establishment of Everett’s double as nemesis feels extremely forced.
BOTTOM LINE: Malevolent Nanotech. More world hopping. A solidly entertaining second volume to the series.

In Planesrunner, the first novel in Ian McDonald’s YA series about Everett Singh, we were introduced to the world of the Infundibulum. Everett’s father, with help from Everett himself, unlocked inter-world travel, a breakthrough powerful and potent enough that people will go to great lengths to possess the technology. Everett’s journeys takes him to a parallel world of carbon fiber technology and enormous airships. At the end of the first book, Everett’s father has been cast to somewhere in the multiverse, and Everett is determined to find and save him, even as the forces arrayed against him are in hot pursuit.  Now, those forces, led by Charlotte Villiers, have a new plan for capturing Everett and his key to the mulltiverse. They intend to use the one person who can anticipate and counter Everett’s moves and actions: himself…

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REVIEW SUMMARY: With this collection’s 15 stories, editor Carrie Cuinn argues that sometimes it’s best to keep hidden mysteries hidden.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: “An anthology of alien archeology, hidden mysteries, and things that are better off left buried,” with stories by such writers as Ken Liu, Alex Shvartsman, Mae Empson, David J. West, and K.V. Taylor.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Well-written, quick-paced stories; no clunkers.
CONS: A few stories with similar plots, characters, settings.
BOTTOM LINE: An interesting batch of stories about “things that are better off left buried.”
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REVIEW SUMMARY: Smillie keeps the Flesh Tearers love flowing.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Chapter Master Amit and a company of space marines descend upon Cretacia to exterminate orks but find a different sort of enemy once they make planetfall.

MY REVIEW
PROS: A look at the internal struggle of the Chapter, plenty of flesh tearing.
CONS: Could use more characterization.
BOTTOM LINE: Smillie continues to flesh out a beloved Space Marine Chapter (pardon the pun), while providing lots of that old fashion bolter porn.

Total victory is robbed from the Flesh Tearers fleet as a number of orks escape before the final blow can be dealt. With a desire to bring death to the enemy, Chapter Master Amit assembles a company to track and eradicate the survivors. After arriving on the planet the Flesh Tearers become aware of a different sort of enemy…an enemy that has massacred the fleeing orks and wishes to expel all intruders from the world. Can the Flesh Tearers defeat an entire world fixed upon their death or will they succumb to their own inner blood lust?

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After talking so abstractly about criticism last week, I felt that delving into a book was necessary for this week’s column. My choice is Jeffrey Ford’s Crackpot Palace, a book about which I am sure I could pen a lengthy thesis. It is his most recent collection of stories and demonstrates his versatility as a writer, ranging from SF and heroic fantasy to unsettling surrealism and earthy realism. To show my bias from the start, I think it is one of the best short story collections of the year, even though a few of the stories fell flat for me. Ford applies his prodigious writing skills to the creation of stories whose fantastical elements seduce and disrupt the reader’s expectations. Ford can read like great American literature or SFnal pulp, but there are always shadows and depths that run through his tales, and they can be treacherous or enlightening as you fall into them.

Regardless of any genre affectations or fantastical content, life is inherently strange in Ford’s stories. One of Ford’s great strengths is that his writing slyly leads you to embrace what is happening, not by normalizing the strange and marvelous but by creating a tone that makes the fantastic inseparable from the seemingly innocuous writing. To be anchored to the illogic of the world presented, the reader must not merely see through a character’s eyes so much as coalesce how they experience and shape the story of the world being told. A sense of place is channeled through the characters’ actions and responses to be felt and assembled by the reader. This is not a unique method of creating a feeling of being elsewhere in a story, but Ford is particularly masterful at its execution.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: A thoroughly creepy debut novel that is sure to stick with you long after finishing.

MY RATING:

MY REVIEW
PROS: Uneasy; disturbing; psychological; traumatic; paranoid-inducing.
CONS: Chronologically confusing; abrupt ending.
BOTTOM LINE: Auerbach took something with childish innocence and twisted into a haunting tale of obsession. I look forward watching Auerbach improve with future works that are bound to give me nightmares.
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REVIEW SUMMARY: A strong third entry in the Books of the Raksura series by Martha Wells.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Moon, only slowly getting used to his role in his own Court, finds himself unexpectedly traded to another. Worse, the Fell are on the move again and they have a plan…

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Strong writing, especially with regards to the social relationships and conflicts within the Raksura; more interesting worldbuilding.
CONS: Pacing in the last portion of the novel is too swift; the final act feels far too short as compared to the remainder of the novel
BOTTOM LINE: A welcome way to round out the three Books of the Raksura.
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REVIEW SUMMARY: A “slow invasion” story that reads quickly, but moves slowly.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A group of aliens stranded on Earth impact the small seaside town of Thatcham.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Interesting premise; quick-moving, to-the-point prose; reminds us that alien invasion stories don’t have to be stitched-together action sequences; wonderfully creepy final act.
CONS: Takes a while before the really good stuff happens, then it’s over; characters acting inconsistently or illogically.
BOTTOM LINE: A bit of a misfire from a talented writer.

When science fiction fans think of alien invasion, they tend think of the action-filled special effects spectacles shown in film. In literature, invasions are often meatier, usually offering a more personal look at the impact of our alien foes. The depiction is more complicated when the invasion is more subtle, like this one depicted by David Moody.
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REVIEW SUMMARY: Gritty mash-up of Western themes and Fantasy setting as only Abercrombie could do it.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Shy South’s home has been burned to the ground, her brother and sister stolen. To get them back Shy will have to brave the lawless frontier and all the savages that inhabit it.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Great prose, Western themes mesh perfectly, return of beloved characters.
CONS: Slightly drawn out, less interesting protagonists.
BOTTOM LINE: There are few things I look forward to more than the release of a new Abercrombie novel and Red Country does not disappoint.

“The losers are always the villains, Sworbreck. Only winners can be heroes.”

The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie is the very reason I got back into the fantasy genre after a five year hiatus of sticking strictly to science fiction. The First Law taught me that fantasy can be gritty and bloody and none too happily-ever-after. As a result I’ve spent the past several years sinking my teeth into any and all titles of the Sword & Sorcery sub-genre, and I still have not found an author quite so engaging as Abercrombie. Red Country is a minor departure from the series; it still occupies the same overall setting but is layered with Western themes. I’ve never been huge into Westerns but I was eager to see how this would translate.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: One of this reviewer’s first forays into gritty SF. It was a good enough experience that it won’t be her last.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A former repossession specialist hides out from his old co-workers who’d like to repossess his artificial heart.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Fascinating protagonist with very interesting life, great narrative style
CONS: Some crass scenes, light world-building
BOTTOM LINE: A decent amount of action and a fascinating crew of characters make Repo Man a worthwhile read.

The unnamed protagonist of Repo Men (originally published as Repossession Mambo) is typing his memoirs on an old Underwood typewriter in an abandoned hotel.  Once a level five repo man, charged with repossessing the artificial organs of those who stopped making payments for the Credit Union (and others), he’s now on the run, having his own artificial organ and unable to pay the extremely high interest rates.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: A debut novel with interesting characters, writing, setting and premise let down significantly by plotting issues.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Osiris, apparently the city on Earth, is the site of a conflict between the haves and have nots, as a scion of the most powerful family and a have-not shake Osiris by their alliance.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Interesting characters, premise and a great “bottle” setting; excellent prose and evocation of themes.
CONS: Very weak plotting and narrative flaws undermine the strengths of the novel.
BOTTOM LINE: A premise and set-up that doesn’t rise as far above the waves as it should.

The last bastion of human civilization, after our Neon Age has come and fallen, is a city built on a continental shelf in the ocean. A city divided by fabulous wealth and the remnants of the old age on the one half, and grinding poverty, hunger, need and lack on the other side. A house divided against itself cannot stand, and Osiris is a house that may not manage to stand. Shortages threaten the social fabric and changing weather threatens all. When a maverick scion of the powerful Rechenov family meets a westerner seeking social justice, the world of Osiris hangs on their actions.

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REVIEW SUMMARY: Gladstone’s debut novel is equal parts ambitious and inventive.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: God is dead and it is up to Craftswoman Tara Abernathy to return Him to some semblance of life. In the strange and beautiful city of Alt Coulumb Tara seeks out the evidence necessary to win the favor of the court and the respect of her firm.

MY REVIEW
PROS: Thrilling setting, solid world building, creative ideas, and interesting characters.
CONS: Drags a bit in places, but nothing some tighter pacing can’t resolve.
BOTTOM LINE: Don’t let the cover art fool you, Three Parts Dead is not your mama’s urban fantasy.

Kos the Everburning is dead. Tara is a new associate of the necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao and as such she is responsible for His resurrection. Tara must search the city of Alt Coulumb for the evidence necessary to revive the Lord as intact as possible. Aiding Tara in the investigation is Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of Kos suffering from a serious crisis of faith. The two will have to wade through mysteries and conspiracies, vampires and gargoyles, for any hope of rescuing the city from chaos.

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