Joshua Palmatier

This is a novella featuring the characters from Bradley P. Beaulieu's "Shattered Sands" series.

Premise: Ceda is a pit fighter who catches the eye of an ehrekh, an evil creature created ages ago by the god of chaos. She attempts to escape, but this only makes her more interesting in the ehrekh's eyes. The more Ceda resists, the more the ehrekh wants her. How can Ceda escape the clutches of a creature that's part god?

This is really a story in three parts, each part a short story in an of itself, all connected. Overall, the story is good, the best part probably the last. Ceda is a great character and the world where people sail the sands like we sail the ocean is spectacular. The weakest part in this story is the middle part. Not because it isn't a complete short on its own, but it didn't have the depth that the other two parts had; it read a little more perfunctory than the other parts. I felt the characterizations were best in the first and last parts, especially of the ehrekh. But still, an enjoyable addition to the novels in the this series.

This is the first book of a series of humorous SF novels. Sort of a spoof of serious military SF.

Premise: Roger Wilson Rogers has managed to get out of the military and start up a smuggling career, but unfortunately one of his runs goes horribly wrong and rather than get sent to a labor camp for prisoners, he agrees to rejoin the fleet ... as an officer! But once on the ship, he realizes that things have changed since he was last here. Droids appear everywhere, along with inspirational posters, not to mention that everyone has been transferred to jobs they aren't qualified to do. Where's the beer hour? Where's the shuffleboard? And what's all this talk about preparing for war? Rogers is afraid he's bitten off more than he can handle, like, actual work. But can he figure out what's going on before the enemy fleet attacks?

This was a fun read, although it does take a while to get things set up for the humorous ending. I'd say about half to two thirds of the book is Rogers exploring the ship, meeting people, and setting up the plot elements that make the last half to a third so much fun. But once the action starts, the book speeds along at a fast clip. The main character is fun to follow and the side characters are a blast as well. A few of the plot elements are too over the top, but it's really just a rollercoaster ride throughout.

If you're into humorous SF with a military slant, definitely check this out.

The Operative is the second book in Gerald Brandt's San Angeles sci-fi thriller series and it continues the story of Kris Merrill.

Premise: In The Courier, Kris finds herself caught up in the politics of the corporations that rule a near future Earth, as well as the heavens above, when she accidentally witnesses a murder while delivering a package. She survives--because she's a survivor--but she can't return to life as a courier now. Instead, she's become involved in the resistance, training to be one of their operatives. But the Meridian corporation still wants her dead, as well as certain elements within the resistance itself. And they're willing to do anything--even use her mentor and lover Ian Miller--to get to her. As the city descends into civil unrest, she must find a way to rescue Ian ... but she doesn't know who she can trust.

I enjoyed this continuing story and thought it moved in a believable direction for Kris herself. She isn't really the kind of personality you'd think of as being an "operative," and that's clearly a drawback for her in the novel, giving it an immediate sense of tension. So while she has the training to be an operative, her heart isn't really in it, causing all kinds of problems throughout the novel as she searches for Ian and discovers who she can and cannot trust. This being a second novel in a series, there is a transitional nature to the novel, with not only Kris shifting from her courier days to something else, but the entire city and political shape of the world shifting as well. I'm looking forward to the third installment in this series.

If you like SF thrillers, I'd definitely recommend this series.

Twelve Kinds in Sharakhai is Bradley P. Beaulieu's first novel with DAW Books and the start of a new and interesting series. I'm looking forward to seeing where he takes this.





Premise: Ceda lives in Sharakhai, a city in the middle of the desert that's ruled by twelve Kings who made a pact with the gods centuries earlier in order to survive. But their rule is tyrannical, the populace kept in line by the Blade Maidens and the Silver Spears. The Kings killed Ceda's mother when she was a child and she's vowed revenge. Using the clues left to her by her mother, she hopes to complete what her mother started and bring the Kings down, one by one. But the clues are frustrating and difficult to unravel, and the Kings near impossible to get close to, protected by the Maidens. The only way to reach them may be for Ceda to become a Blade Maiden herself.

This is a great start to a fantasy epic, with all of the details that will make for a compelling story. Probably the books' strongest suit is the worldbuilding and the world itself, which is full of life, provides a unique setting, and has a compelling history. Ships that sail on the sands and the creatures that haunt the thorny forest that surrounds the city are but a few of the interesting elements that bring Sharakhai to life. The reader will want to unravel the mysteries Ceda is presented with along with her. The two main characters--Ceda and Emre--are likeable and draw you into their own personal stories, with flashbacks that show you their backstories and how their lives became so intertwined.

My only complaint is that there are obviously many more books to come in the series (at no point does the author try to hide this fact, so it's not a surprise) so only one main plot thread has been finished by the end of the book, leaving many other threads hanging. It's obvious that Emre's story has just begun, for example. But the ending is still satisfying, while still leaving the reader wanting more.

Overall, a great start to what I hope is a spectacular series. I'm interested in exploring this world further, and following Ceda and Emre on whatever paths destiny sends them.

The Runelords is the first book in this epic fantasy series from David Farland. I bought this when it first came out in hardcover ages ago--as well as all of the subsequent books--but only just now managed to find time to read it. No real reason for this, just . . . I own a lot of books that I haven't had a chance to read yet. A lot.





Anyway, the premise: Gaborn is a Runelord, traveling the land toward the allied nation of Sylvarresta with the intent to ask the Princess Iome for her hand. But on the way, he discovers assassins, and an army marching toward Sylvarresta led by Raj Ahten, who seeks to destroy all of the northern lands. Gaborn races to warn the king of Sylvarresta and Iome of the threat, but discovers that more is wrong with the world than a simple army marching on a castle. For in this world, traits can be passed from one to another through endowments. Brawn, stamina, beauty, wit--all passed from one to another to make a man or woman more than he or she could ever be alone. And Raj Ahten has been forcing people to give him endowments to the point where he may have become more than merely human. He may have become the Sum of All Men, in effect, a god. How can Gaborn and Iome and their fathers hope to defeat him, especially once they learn that the Earth King is dead? Their only chance is for the Earth King to be reborn. . . .

The most interesting aspect of this world, to me, is the concept of the endowments being passed from one person to another, with men literally having the strength of ten men and women the grace of twenty. That idea all by itself is what prompted me to buy the book in the first place. The possibilities there are intriguing, and David Farland uses many of those possibilities in this book. Some are simply strategic--such as linking person to person to create a chain, or to link many people to a single individual, then link that person to another. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of magic system? How can it be used? How can it be abused? All of these are great questions that Farland explores to a great extent in this book. Obviously, Raj Ahten epitomizes the abuse of the magic. The entire book could have dealt with this one magical component and been satisfactory, I believe. I was grateful that the cost of such endowments--how it affected those that gave endowments and those that received them--was made clear, and that these costs had affected the society, creating Dedicate towers and also affecting how wars were fought and battles won. This is what fantasy should be all about--a magical system that changes the world and the people that live in it.

But there were many other magical and epic fantasy components to the book as well. There's the Earth and Fire magic, the two rival factions at odds with each other, woven throughout the story. There were fantastical creatures such as giants and reavers and ferrins, along with hellish elementals and golems. And more mundane magic as well, such as herblore, mixed in with some chemical science. The world itself had multiple layers--varied cultures, richly imagined settings, interesting characters . . . everything that you'd want and expect in an epic fantasy novel.

My only complaint was with the plot. Overall, it was fine. But it felt a little ragged and loose, not as tight as I expect from an epic fantasy. I don't mean that the plot was sprawling--in fact, it was kept down to a manageable number of main characters to follow (there were only two major POV characters to follow, with a couple of jaunts into other POV characters once in while). What I mean is that it felt like some plot threads were started and then left hanging or went nowhere. For example, Gaborn is in the castle, escapes outside it's walls, then returns, then escapes again . . . couldn't this have been cut to just one escape? Especially when I didn't see the point of the first escape? In any event, a few plot threads do similar things, going nowhere and then returning. And in the end, when the book was finished, I didn't feel a sense of completion. It didn't feel like a significant objective had been achieved. It felt more like the story had just started and we had simply finished part one.

So I enjoyed the worldbuilding and the extremely intriguing premise of endowments being passed from person to person and the potential (and cost) of such a magic. I was less impressed with the overall plot of the book, which left me a little unsatisfied at the end. I'll be reading the second book, because the world is so interesting, but I'm hoping that we get a slightly more coherent and satisfactory story in the next one.

A Murder of Mages is the first book in the Maradaine Constabulary series, although there was a previous book called The Thorn of Dentonhill that's set in the same city (with different characters and not dealing with the constabulary). I enjoyed that first book, so of course picked this up and read it right away.





The premise: Satrine's husband, who worked for the constabulary, is waylaid and beaten near to death. Unable to support herself and her children on the pittance the constabulary offers her now that her husband can no longer work, she fakes some papers and takes up a position as a constable in a different section of the city in hopes that no one will recognize her. She's partnered with Minox, an oddball but brilliant investigator who happens to be an untrained mage. The two are presented immediately with the ritual murder of a Circled mage. If they can't find out who's killing mages in the city, it may spark an all-out mage war between the Circles . . . which could spell the destruction of the entire city!

Obviously there's a "Sherlock Holmes and Watson" vibe to the setup, with Minox playing the role of Holmes, but the set-up is where the comparison ends. At first, the story is focused mostly on Satrine, but after a while we get Minox's perspective as well. The two work well together, because both of them are smart and effective at what they do. But the odds are stacked against them. They both have secrets that they don't want revealed, and one of the nice things about the book is that none of the secrets are "played up" in a stupid way. Minox knows immediately that Satrine is hiding something (even the inspector who hires her knows something isn't right immediately) but everyone chooses to ignore it for their own reasons. Similarly, while some of the other characters are initially introduced as being less than intelligent, as the novel progresses their characters are deepened, so they become more than just clueless secondary inspectors and take on a life of their own. This doesn't meant that they suddenly become smarter than initially introduced, they simply take on other dimensions and you see them as people living their lives. You also see how they became inspectors. They may not be as intelligent, but they have a purpose and they get the job done in their own way.

As for the plot ... aside from the character developments of the two main characters, the murders of the mages are initially difficult to follow. There's a ... looseness in the first half of the book regarding this main plot that doesn't settle down until about a third of the way into the book and doesn't get really interesting until about halfway through. But that's fine, because the characters themselves hold you until that plot kicks in. The world is fully realized and while not everything is explained in this book, the main plot and character threads all come to a satisfactory conclusion.

So an interesting introduction to some great characters that I hope we get to see in many future books. I like the combination of the mystery with the SF elements, satisfying both of my ready genres. I think readers of both genres will enjoy this series.

I discovered Katherine Kurtz when my dad bought me her original Deryni series for Christmas ages ago and I realized I could OWN the books I was reading from the library . . . a grave mistake on my dad's part. *grin* In any case, I loved the series and devoured all of the books then currently out by Katherine Kurtz and anything that was coming out shortly after that. Then Kurtz turned to other non-Deryni novels and I wasn't as interested in those, so I ended up not reading anything of hers for a while. Happily, she's returned to the Deryni world. I bought the books (I think there's four of them now) as they came out in hardcover, but only just got to reading this first one.





Premise: King Kelson needs to choose a bride. His first choice--made for political reasons--died in his arms at the altar after a betrayal by the bride's brother. His second choice--made for love--refuses to accept, after her own "betrayal" of marrying Kelson's traitorous cousin when she thought Kelson himself had died. Now he needs to choose again. But how can he reconcile marriage with the love he still feels for Rothana, even though he knows a king cannot ever be expected to marry for the heart? Kelson struggles with this as he and his court accompany their ward of four years Liam-Lajos of Torenth back to his homeland to claim his crown and throne. But Liam's uncles and mother are loath to give up their regency, and have their own plans for betrayal . . . that may take the life of both Liam and Kelson!

I have to admit that I was worried when I sat down to read this book. I have such fond memories of reading the Deryni novels a good *coughcough* twenty years ago. I thought that perhaps I'd have "outgrown" the world or the characters or the writing style and that picking up another Kurtz book after so long would somehow ruin those memories. But I was wrong. I immediately sank back into the world of King Kelson, even recalling the majority of the events and dangling plot threads that this book picks up and ties off. I immediately rediscovered why I'd enjoyed Kurtz' books so much and thankfully dove into the world anew.

And that's one of the best parts of Kurtz' books: this is a true medieval fantasy. It isn't the trappings of the medieval world, you really feel as if you are living in medieval times, although of course you're getting the aristocracy's view of it, since the books deal with the king and his court. But it isn't just the world that's so realistic that keeps you reading, it's the characters as well. Kelson is like a dear friend and with this book you pick back up with his life and get to revisit him and all of his cohorts as they travel from the familiar Gwynnedd to Torenth. So here we get to see a new part of the world, a new land, and get to (attempt) to crown its kind, even though Torenth is considered a vassal state of Gwynnedd.

The only drawback to the novel, and the reason that it wasn't given 5 stars, is that the plot itself was slightly weak. Overall, it moved along well, and the confrontation between Liam, Kelson, and the traitorous uncles was everything that you'd expect. If hat had been the culmination of the book, with the wedding of Kelson afterwards, than it would have been a deeply fulfilling novel. However, that wasn't the culmination. One of the traitors escapes and threatens to ruin the upcoming wedding. This by itself wasn't a bad plot move, in particular, but Kurtz drives the tension up so high, and gives the villain enough character, that when the attack finally comes . . . it's kind of anticlimactic. This doesn't ruin the whole book--there is plenty here that I thoroughly enjoyed--but as an ending it was kind of a letdown.

Not that that will stop me from reading the next few books or any of the others that might come out in the meantime. I'm happy to report, for those of you like me who read the Deryni novels years ago, that fears of ruining those hopefully fond memories are all for naught. This is a grand revisit to the realm that you loved . . . and if you haven't read any of Kurtz's novels, you should start now, with Deryni Rising. You won't regret it.

In my continued quest to read books from authors I've never read before, I decided I should start on some of Brandon Sanderson's works. This is the first of his books and the first that I've read. And I can see why he's become popular.





Premise: The city of Elantris was the city of the gods--when random people were transformed into shining white near-immortals with the power to wield the magic called Dor, they were sent to the city to live out the life of gods. But something has gone wrong. Now, instead of becoming gods, those chosen are sent to the decaying city of Elantris and shunned and ridiculed, believed to be cursed. Raoden, prince of Arelon, is struck from the curse and thrown into Elantris, where he discovers that the Elantrians are indeed cursed, their bodies dead, their pains never-ending. Sarene, princess of Teod, arrives in Kae outside the city of Elantris to marry Raoden, only to discover he has supposedly died. But she suspects something else has happened and she intends to find out what. Hrathen, high priest of Fjordell, arrives in Kae with one purpose: convert the entire country to his own religion . . . or see them destroyed. All three of them collide both inside and outside the walls of Elantris, each seeking to find what they have lost.

This was an interesting fantasy novel, with all of the best trappings of fantasy brought together in a unique and interesting way. The idea behind the city of Elantris is intriguing and that alone keeps you reading. What exactly happened to cause it to be "cursed" and will Raoden be able to figure out how to fix it? Add in the political intrigue that's swirling around Sarene and Hrathen and I was hooked. All three of the characters were interesting and real and the situations into which they were thrust drove the plot forward. And the plot . . . well, it takes enough twists and turns toward the end to keep even rollercoaster enthusiasts satisfied.

I'd have to say this is the best fantasy novel I've read in a long time. It had cool concepts, interesting magic (even if that magic didn't work for most of the novel), and characters that I liked and wanted to follow. The world had some of the standard trappings of a fantasy novel--a ruthless king, the medieval time period for a setting, etc.--but it didn't feel like your standard fantasy. The city of Elantris and what it represented gave it a more modern feel. This is what I've been searching for in my fantasy reading--something different but still obviously fantasy.

My only criticism of the book has to do with pacing. The beginning of the book and the end of the book have two different paces to them. At the beginning, we're introduced to the world and the three main characters in a leisurely pace that may have been a touch slow and drawn out, but not overly so. But then, forward the end, as the twists in plot start occurring, the pace becomes too rushed. In essence, the turning plot happens too fast. I think there could have been more of a balance achieved here--where words were cut from the beginning to speed up the pace, but then added back in toward the end to slow the action there down slightly.

Other than that, I had no complaints about this book and highly recommend it to fantasy readers everywhere. Good plot, non-standard setting, interesting concepts, and above all characters that you want to read about. I'll definitely be reading more Brandon Sanderson. I've been told that Mistborn will blow me away. I guess we'll see!

This is the debut novel from Marshall Ryan Maresca. I try to read new authors--and in particular, debut novels--as much as possible and am trying to do so even more this year as a New Year's resolution. This novel was a fun take on fantasy, mixing in some elements comic book flavor in terms of the storyline.





The premise: Veranix is a student at the local university studying magic--the use of numina. But secretly he's using his powers to hunt down and hound those in the surrounding area called Dentonhill who are dealing a drug called effitte. The ringleader of the drug dealers in a man who killed Veranix's father and forced his mother to take so much of the drug that her mind is lost, her body lying with dozens of others who were overcome by the drug. Veranix initially only intends to hurt the drug trade, but when he accidentally intercepts a deal involving a magic cloak and rope, everything changes . . .

As you can imagine, with a magic cloak and rope, the story takes on some comic book attributes--Batman, anyone? Veranix sneaks out at night and fights against the drug dealers, trying to destroy as much effitte as he can. Of course, initially his activities are minor nuisances, but with the cloak and rope to aid him, his attacks become much more troublesome to the ringleader and things escalate. Not to mention that the items he's accidentally come by were intended for a group of mages that desperately want them back and will do anything to get them. So the plot itself is very comic book-esque in nature . . . and the book itself takes on that tone. If you start reading with that in mind--that this is simply going to be a fun ride--then you'll enjoy the book.

The main character is certainly likeable--a little flippant, perhaps too daring, and somewhat oblivious about the realities of what it is he's attempting to do and what it is that he's stumbled into. I enjoyed following along his story, and I enjoyed his interactions with the his friends and mentors at the university. It's obvious his friends more or less "put up" with him, one out of true friendship, the other out of a similar sense of revenge that grows into something else, and a cousin out of family obligations.

The setting itself is a stereotypical medieval-ish fantasy world. It's obvious that the world has been well-developed, with tons of references to history and other lands, but the book itself sticks primarily to the city of Maradaine. And yet this was the most disappointing aspect of the book for me. The street gangs with their own lingo were interesting, but I didn't get any sense of originality in the world itself. There was no sense of uniqueness to the world, and I was searching for that.

Also, me being me, I kept expecting the storyline to take a much darker turn. This is a personal issue though, since the book never "promised" a darker turn in any way. I still kept expecting some more serious consequences for Veranix's actions. The plot down turn downward against him, of course (all plots do eventually), but the consequences weren't as significant as I'd hoped for.

Which is why I say that if you go into this novel with the idea that it's simply a fun little jaunt through Maradaine, like a superhero comic set in a fantasy world, then you'll thoroughly enjoy the book. It delivers on all of those aspects completely. But because the world itself was a little too stereotypical and the consequences weren't as dark as I personally like, I dropped what would have been a 4 star out of 5 review to a 3. I will be reading the next novel set in Maradaine, but I'll do so with a different set of expectations before I begin.

I'm probably going to get roasted by the SF&F community for this, but . . . After hearing about this series for ages, I finally decided to check it out as part of my "reading new authors" quest this year. This series has been around for a while (since the 60s and 70s) so it's a little retro and I tried to take that into account as I read it. That didn't seem to help too much.





The premise: This first book is really simply three stories woven together to produce a book. The Snow Women is the back story of Fafhrd, relating his early life and how and why he flees and ends up in Lankhmar. Similarly, The Unholy Grail is the back story of the Gray Mouser and how he ends up in Lankhmar. And finally, Ill Met in Lankhmar is the story of how the two meet and become the famed Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

The third story is where the heart of this book lies, and also where I assume Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser caught readers' imaginations and really took hold. It is where I finally became interested in the two characters and where the story drew me in, with the two heading off to figure out how to hurt the thieves' guild and get revenge. Of course, things don't work out as planned and what started off as a mostly drunken excursion to scout things out becomes something much more meaningful to both of them. This is the real story, and this one story is the main reason that I'll go on and read the next book in the series.

Unfortunately, the two back stories for Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser didn't really catch my interest or hold my attention as well, especially Fafhrd's story (which was the introduction story in this book). I kept reading mostly because of what I'd heard from others about this series and this pair. The Gray Mouser's back story was more interesting and better written. Maybe the reason the second and especially the third story caught my attention and held it better is because they were more of what I was expecting in terms of "sword and sorcery," which is what these stories really are.

As I said, I tried to give the style of the writing some leeway, since they were written before I was born and the style then was slightly different. For example, the omniscient POV was much more prevalent, so what we now call "head-hopping" was more common. Now, we try mostly for third-person limited POV and "head-hopping" is frowned on (although still done occasionally). I must admit the head-hopping threw me and it took me a while to get used to it. The language itself and the structures of the sentences were also slightly "off" from current fiction, and that took some getting used to.

But in the end, I really think that my issues were with the story, not the style. The first one just didn't catch me. The second piqued my interested more, but it was the third where I finally felt that I was "getting" what everyone was raving out. The third story drew me in and, again, is why I'll go ahead and continue with the second volume.