Elitist Book Reviews

Some reviews are difficult to write. Others fly off of my fingertips near light-speed. Some are simple. Others complex. But every once in a while, I come across one that seems to just be begging for discussion of a larger issue. This book sparked one of those latter types in me. The issue: writing character versus story.

THE MONGOLIAD, BOOK ONE is an interesting kind of book and not one that I come across every day. There are seven authors that collaborated to write it (Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, E. D. deBirmingham, Cooper Moo, and Mark Teppo). Quite the list. Most of them are either established science fiction authors or new enough to the publishing scene that I couldn't find a lot about the books they'd written besides what was on their Amazon author pages.  As such I was kind of expecting to find this story to be very similar many other fantasy offerings that were written by science fiction authors.  i.e.: not that good.

What I found kind of surprised me and kind of didn't.  As with other books that have multiple authors (I'm thinking mostly short story anthologies and such) there is a range of goodness to be had in this one. The story centers on the Mongol invasion of Europe, circa 1240 A.D., and is split between three major story lines. The first involves a group of moral knights that has been slated to fight in a Mongolian version of a gladiator arena but decide instead to embark on a quest to kill the Khan. The second story line, and one that engaged me the most, dealt with the Khan's court and a couple of its participants. The third, and weakest of the three, is a string of connected characters portraying the "gladiators" fighting in the Mongolian arena.

For the most part, the writing is accessible and decent. World-building is quite sparse. The difference between the three story lines, although significant in locale, didn't feel all that different from one another. The story-telling was also quite procedural. Each event led to the next, which led to another, and another, and so on. Characterization was very thin. Like on the level of 2-3% of what I would expect in a novel. Pretty abysmal.

In fact, the lack of characterization was easily one of the most difficult things about the book. Instead of reading characters in a story, the point-of-view characters became more like vehicles through which the story was told. With little to no character history to be had, and so very little of the story being about the impact that these events are having on our characters, they all became very cardboardish and one-dimensional. Most times they seemed to disappear entirely, and I forgot that they were even there. They were more like cameras on tripods, carried around for the benefit of the reader.

The one exception to this rule was Gansukh, a member of the group in the second story line I mentioned. He was sent by the Khan's brother to try and reign in the Khan's drinking problem. This single character was well-written, and although there were still times that I was left somewhat confused as to what he was going to do next to try and solve his problem, I found that I always enjoyed his part of the story. He engaged me, while the others in the book hardly even made an attempt.

As I thought about this difference between how each of the characters were written, I realized that this single point was really the crux of the problem surrounding my expectations of the novel. Because so often I find that science fiction authors write books that have stories impacted by a set of characters; whereas, fantasy authors tend to write books that have characters who are impacted by the stories surrounding them. I can't say that one is necessarily better than the other, as both kinds of books are enjoyed by flocks of different people, but I have found that once the mix of the two techniques falls too far to the story side of the balance (as I see so often in science fiction novels), that I lose my ability to enjoy the story. I love character too much. It's why The Fugitive is one of my favorite movies of all time; why I was literally on the edge of my seat during my entire first viewing of Inception; and why the end of Up had me weeping uncontrollably. It's character that impacts me. Not story.

There are two last things I should mention. The first is the fairly egregious use of foreign words (I can't really say "made-up" here because it could be that they're all real, although in the context of the story for most readers they'll be just as good as made-up) in the story. They're the terms that get used once, explained, and then usually forgotten. The second is the complete lack of an ending. A better title for this book would have been, “THE MONGOLIAD, THE FIRST THIRD OF THE STORY”, as the thing just stops mid-stream.

Although I did seem to harp on the book quite a bit, it wasn't a bad read. It just wasn't all that good. Even though it was full of decent word-smithing, lots of historical fact, and had a large array of characters, it didn't do anything to pull itself up out of the pool of mediocrity surrounding it. It never became more than its constituent parts. As such, I'm not really expecting much of the continuation of the story (there are still parts 2 and... ahem... books 2 and 3), but will probably get to it sometime soon.

Recommended Age: 15+
Language: Really mild for most of it, and then a few sections that get fairly vulgar
Violence: Pretty gory and violent, sword fights, gladiator-like arena
Sex: None

Your link:  The Mongoliad, Book One

After the disappointment of the so-so TONGUES OF SERPENTS (EBR review), it was a relief to see Novik back in form with CRUCIBLE OF GOLD. I'm beginning to see the longer-range purpose of Novik's series, and with several exciting scenes and more serious characterization, I have hope for the future.

In SERPENTS, Laurence and Temeraire were banished to Australia and spent the novel touring the country. A little boring. So when CRUCIBLE came out last year I decided to wait to buy it until they released the paperback. Now I'm wishing I hadn't waited, but at least it means that the sequel BLOOD OF TYRANTS is now available.

At the start of CRUCIBLE we learn that Laurence has been reinstated as an Aerial Corps captain, and that he's been assigned the duty to travel to and support the Portuguese (England's ally) interests in Brazil. He's reunited with Captain Riley and Ambassador Hammond on the dragon ship Allegiance and they set off in the Pacific toward South America. Of course, nothing goes as planned.

Sunken ships, misbehaving sailors, deserted islands, captivity by the French, escape, dragon fights...so much happens in CRUCIBLE. En route to Brazil, Temeraire and his coterie of dragons and their captains must first pass through Chile where they find that the local population are 'slaves' (it's more complicated than that, but to explain would spoil the story) to the dragons, and that the Chilean empress is being courted by none other than Napoleon himself.

We see more of Laurence here, he's less wishy-washy now that his captaincy is restored. There is more of Granby and Hammond, who are both interesting (if a trifle flat). But the majority of the story revolves around Temeraire and his dragon friends, the gentle giant Kulingile as well as the uncontrollable fire-breather Iskierka. We see more interaction between these dragons as they work together (and sometimes at odds), and watch as their understanding of how the Chilean dragons change their own perceptions about the people for whom they feel responsible.

The landscapes are new as the dragons and their captains explore the lands and learn about cultures much different than their own. This is a frequent theme in Novik's books, so if you found past iterations boring, beware. They run across old friends/enemies, forge new alliances, and learn more about themselves as the world's wonders open up to them. Too much time is spent on what the dragons eat and there are other petty annoyances (poor Riley and Granby! and a strange addition of miscreant sailors...). But I liked the infusion of new politics, strategies, and battles. I can only hope Novik is picking up steam for what's to come.

Recommended Age: 14+
Language: None
Violence: Some with blood
Sex: Vague references

Find the most recent installment of the Temeraire series here (there will be two more books after this one to finish off the series):

CRUCIBLE OF GOLD

I first met Eff Rothmer in THIRTEENTH CHILD, where she lives in the frontier border town of Mill City with her family. She's the thirteenth child of a seventh son, and her twin brother Lan is the seventh son of a seventh son, making him a naturally strong magician. Some consider a thirteenth child as unlucky. Stir those expectations around and the result is that poor Eff has trouble learning the magic that comes naturally to her family. But despite her rocky start, Eff discovers that how you use your magic is often more important than how strong your magic is.

In the sequel, ACROSS THE GREAT BARRIER, Eff grows into a young woman, whose experiences with magic, working with the animals at the college menagerie, and finding the right mentors all lead her on an unexpected path to an adventure in the Far West.

In the final book of the trilogy, THE FAR WEST, Eff's experiences from the first two books prepare her for the dangerous wilderness beyond Mill City and the Great Barrier.

Patricia C. Wrede is no newcomer to fantasy or YA. In her Frontier Magic trilogy she explores a new and exciting world called Columbia (mid-1800s U.S.) where magic is a part of everyday life and as a result the settling of the continent looks much different than what we're familiar with: mammoths still walk the earth, ice dragons must be fought off from the towns by magicians, and many other untold dangers in unsettled territory.

Told from Eff's pragmatic PoV, we watch as she learns about the different kinds of magic in the world, along with her observations of that magic in action. It was enlightening to watch her knowledge of magic build from each book to finally reach a critical understanding by the climax of THE FAR WEST. She stumbles as she learns because her understanding of magic isn't the result of university study like her brother Lan, but she learns by observing and then contemplating. Eff often thinks before she acts, which means she finds solutions to problems that don't occur to others. I liked seeing this different approach in a YA main character, especially considering our current school culture that seems to reward outgoing/extroverted girls. There will be plenty of book-loving YA readers who will relate to Eff.

We also grow to love the people surrounding Eff. Of course Lan plays a big part of it, but there's also her best friend William, her teacher Miss Ochiba, her mentors Wash Morris and Professor Torgeson, and others. Wrede paints a varied and complex cast who move in and out of Eff's life. Eff understands these people and their foibles and loves them as they are. They see in her a reliable, level-headed, intelligent young woman.

As a result of the setting/plot the pacing can feel slow. But a bigger reason why the pace is slow is because of the PoV character's personality and the growth and learning required from the passage of time--she starts as a young teen in book one and is 22 by book three. So many things have to happen before there can be action  (i.e., the practicality of frontier life, politics, an era of limited technology), and even then the action is infrequent and brief. Do not let this deter you. Fortunately Wrede's prose is succinct in its detail, and every scene has meaning to the greater story as a whole.

If you or your YA readers like Shannon Hale or Mercedes Lackey, don't miss out on Patricia C. Wrede.

Recommended Age: 10+
Language: None
Violence: Peril and fighting with wild animals, scientific study of dead animals
Sex: None

Find this wonderful series here:

THIRTEENTH CHILD

ACROSS THE GREAT BARRIER

THE FAR WEST

Sometimes it's difficult to keep up in the reviewing world. It seems like no matter how many books you read, there are always three more that show up for every one you get through. As such, there are times when I go to reach for that next book and my hand gravitates toward those that are the thinnest. I can't help myself. It's a choice of simple economics. This was one of those choices.

THE DOCTOR AND THE ROUGH RIDER is the third in the series of Weird West tales written by Mike Resnick and published by Pyr. For the most part, they revolve around “Doc” Holliday and his buddies in a Old Wild West that is a bit more “weird” than you remember. For Thomas Edison and Ned Buntline, two prominent geniuses of the wide world, spend their days and nights constructing inventions to make life better and easier than it would otherwise be out there amongst the dust and tumbleweeds. Running adjacent to that idea is that the American Indians hold sway over powerful magics that are significantly more influential than those of a more honest history. (For after all, fiction is really just a bunch of lies we tell ourselves, isn't it?)

In this volume, the barrier that the indian's magic has constructed to keep the United States from fulfilling their dream of Manifest Destiny and expanding all the way to the Pacific Ocean, has been given a chance to fail. Geronimo, the wisest and most powerful of the indian chieftans holding the barrier spell in place has seen the inevitability of the white man's expansionist dreams, and has decided to drop the spell in hopes of buying some mercy for his people on that future day. None of the other magic-wielding chiefs, however, are very excited about this decision. Thus they band their magics together to create a demonic beast that is so powerful that it will be able to destroy both Geronimo and the white man that he has chosen to deal with in this endeavor: Theodore Roosevelt.

The story revolves mostly around Theodore (Not Teddy) Roosevelt and his choices surrounding the deal with Geronimo. Roosevelt is a very strong-willed, influential, successful, go-get-em kind of man that has no qualms against riding off after this demonic indian beast and taking a swing at him. “Doc” Holiday also plays a role, although his part in it is decidedly smaller and less influential. He ends up being more of a gopher-boy for Geronimo than anything else, but fills the spaces between errands by shooting a few people, gambling a load, drinking more than his share of whiskey, and riding around in the sun.

Honestly, I really wanted to like this book more than I did the last one, and there were definitely portions of it that I did. In those, ROUGH RIDER reminded me of the first book in the series, The Buntline Special, that I liked so much. Unfortunately, so much of the fantastical elements were left completely out of this book. The world building was even more sparse than in the previous books, with only a few (I can almost say “few”, as in three, literally here) references to anything “weird” about the West this time around. It was completely lacking in that department. Instead, what we get is more conversation-driven plot, disappointing simplicity, and a push-button ending that left me feeling quite parched and in need of a stiff drink.

If you're looking for something to fill the time, that'll probably make you chuckle a handful of times, and that you won't have to think very hard at all about, this is probably the book for you. For me, ROUGH RIDER just wallows around in the realm of mediocrity though. I'd love to see someone else try their hand at this kind of setting. In fact...I seem to recall someone doing just that. Oh yeah, this book. I almost forgot about it, and I even remember liking it well-enough. Dang it all. Why haven't I read the sequel for that one yet? Now I'll have to go find it. One more book for the stacks. Although, after reading this one, I can tell you that The Rise of Ransom City will be taking a hefty step toward the top of my TBR stack—short book or no.

Recommended Age: 15+
Language: Strong and infrequent, but considerably more than the previous two books.
Violence: Some shootings, and one biological explosion
Sex: A few references to the seemingly-ubiquitous robotic whores

And your easy-access links to the lot of em:

The Buntline Special
The Doctor and the Kid
The Doctor and the Rough Rider

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it! Burton & Swinburne books to continue in amazing new adventure of intrigue and mayhem! Deviltry! Betrayal! Vampires! It'll cost ya more than a dime, but will be worth every ha'penny you spend to get it!

After a daring escape from the mage house in COLD MAGIC, Cat Barahal and her cousin Bee think they have found a sanctuary until a more permanent plan is made. Unfortunately for them, the general who has spent years in prison for trying to conqueror Europa is now free to try it again and plans to use Cat and Bee for his own purposes; Cat's estranged husband's mage house is hunting them down; and to top it all off Cat's mysterious biological father shows up to throw a wrench into everything.

Cat is, however, quick-witted and always seems to land on her feet--often running. And despite escaping the mages by using the spirit realm, she turns up somewhere completely unplanned.

This series is easy to love. Kate Elliott scoops up the reader right from the start. Poor Cat never seems to catch a break. She wants to be free to make her own decisions--who to love and marry, in particular. When her arranged-marriage husband, the arrogant, powerful mage Vai suddenly becomes part of her life again, she learns there's more to him than she first thought. As a result, COLD FIRE could be considered a love story. Fortunately it's so much more than that.

It's also about the magic, and not just cold magic but also fire magic and how they're more connected than first thought. How Bee's magic works. What Cat's entails. Elliott reveals layer upon delicious layer.

It's also about this fascinating world Cat and Bee live in. It's an Earth that could have been, had magic not changed its landscape; but it's easy to tell that Elliott has done her homework about the era, she does her best to make it feel real. There are trolls and dragons. The land of the Fae is real. And, yes, the Master of the Hunt rides every year; and while he cannot be stopped, Cat will do her best to thwart him, because if she doesn't Bee's very life is at stake. You don't see as much steampunk like with the first book, and the locale is a whole new one to learn, which may frustrate those who loved MAGIC. But FIRE adds a depth to the world learned about in the first book, and is a nice departure from the typical Europe fantasy setting.

Cat as the first person PoV narrator is a clever woman with a witty tongue (this makes the dialogue fun to read) with a keen observation of her surroundings and the people in it. This prose is full of great metaphors without being heavy handed. At first Cat seems too smart, but it appears that it's her very cleverness that gets her into trouble; you won't always agree with her actions, but you know enough about her to understand why she does what she does. Vai is also a well-drawn character, with obvious flaws, but it's easy to see why Cat feels for him the way she does; Bee is a delightful character; and even the tertiary characters are colorful and interesting.

If you haven't read MAGIC, that's ok, because Elliott will get you up to speed efficiently and you won't feel lost, even if the plot can feel a little jumpy as we're whisked from place to place. While MAGIC is the foundation, FIRE is a continuation with its own plot and exciting resolution (and yes, even a little bit of a cliffhanger for this summer's release of the sequel COLD STEEL). But FIRE is exciting and interesting enough that if you haven't read MAGIC, you will wonder what you're missing.

Recommended Age: 15+
Language: Minor
Violence: Some, but not gory
Sex: Referenced and implied, but without detail

Check out this exciting series:

COLD MAGIC

COLD FIRE

COLD STEEL

What are they putting in the water down in New Mexico?  Seriously!

There are two books that I’ve read this year (and I really read my share of books) that I’ve gotten to the end and thought, “WOW!”  The first was Daniel Abraham’s excellent THE KING’S BLOOD.  THE COLDEST WAR, by Ian Tregillis is the second.  The weird thing is they both hail from New Mexico.  They seem to be in the same writing group or something down there.  You can see each other’s names in the acknowledgment section of their books.  Whatever they are doing down there, keep it up.

I remember getting to the end of BITTER SEEDS, the first book in Ian Tregillis’s Milkweed series, and liking it more than I had expected.  My thoughts on finishing THE COLDEST WAR? “Holy (bleep)ing (bleep)ity (bleep)ing (bleep)!!!!!!  Why isn’t the last book in this series out RIGHT NOW!!” Or something along those lines.

I’ll try and talk about THE COLDEST WAR without spoiling much from the series.  It helps that this book takes place years and years after the first one.  The characters from BITTER SEEDS have aged and grown in the intervening years.  If you’ve read Abraham’s Long Price Quartet think of the time lapse between the books there.  The events from the first book have taken their toll on Raybould Marsh leaving him in a loveless marriage while caring for a disabled son.  Will is doing well at the beginning of the book but is haunted by demons of his own.  Klaus and Gretel are prisoners of the soviets who are trying desperately to find the secret to their power.  I could go on, but I don’t want to.  I want you to see it for yourself.  I want you to see what’s happened to these characters, how they’ve grown.

There were scenes here that were simply stunning.  There were cool ideas and wonderful moments backed up with excellent prose.  But that’s not what kept me going back for more again and again (sometimes when I really didn’t have the time to read but I just had to read a few pages more anyway).  It was the character interaction.  It was the way the story wove in and out of various viewpoints and crisscrossed each other.  Every time I thought I knew where the story was going, a new twist would be added.  Gretel’s character in particular was a favorite.  We never get her as a viewpoint character, instead focusing more on her brother Klaus (who was really fascinating to read about as well).  Throughout the last book and this one it’s seen that Gretel has a plan for this grand future ahead and every action she takes is helping her get to that foreseen future.  Some of the actions appear meaningless and others confusing.  I loved reading about her and seeing her scheme her way towards her goal.  The ultimate payoff of that work at the end of this book was great.  The book tied up well while at the same time leaving me salivating for more.

Sadly this book took a long time to come out.  Reading Ian Tregillis’ blog he talks about problems he had getting in touch with his (then) editor and a few years went by before we could get our hands on it.  It’s upsetting.  You mean I could have read this two years ago?  I could already have the last book in the series in my hands?  I could be holding it, hugging it and telling my friends what an amazing series this is?  Well fine, I’ll do it anyway, but I’m still not happy that I have to wait until April for the last book.

What can I tell you more than I already have?  THE COLDEST WAR is a fantastic novel. An incredible one. Hugo worthy. This is a series you need to be reading.  This is great, great stuff.  I can’t wait for the next one.

Age Recommendation: 16+ nothing especially egregious, just a bit of stuff here and there.
Language: Not a ton, but there.
Violence: A bit. Fascinating and cool, but a bit.
Sex: Mentioned but not shown.

Get the novels here:

BITTER SEEDS
THE COLDEST WAR

THIEFTAKER, by D.B. Jackson, is one of those books that leaves me with confused impressions. This novel has a lot going for it--Urban Fantasy in  a historical setting, a fun protagonist, a mystery, magic...you get the drift. There is some great potential here. But there are some things that are juuuust off.

The best way for me to describe my feelings to to go at it like I would when I read people's manuscripts for the purpose of feedback.

Let's start at the beginning.

THIEFTAKER starts with an initial chase scene and action sequence. It is a good introduction to the setting, the magic, and the main character.  Ethan Kaille is our protagonist, and he has a subdued Harry Dresden vibe about him. He's older, world-worn, and he's a thieftaker and conjurer. I liked the character right away. This is perhaps one of the biggest draws of the novel for me--the mix of Urban Fantasy in a historical setting.  That setting? Colonial US, 1765.

After that initial action sequence, things really slowed down. We get told detail after detail about people and places, oftentimes in a scattered narrative that, while certainly getting the points across, also serves to slow the story down to a crawl.  This is one of those things I can forgive to a degree, because it really felt like the author was just trying to get it all out of the way early. If Jackson was a brand new author I could cut him even more slack. But he isn't a new author. Jackson is actually David B. Coe. He's been around. It's a bit disappointing that all these details of the backstory and setting weren't shown instead of told.

Once we get through all of the telling, we get into the meat of the story. Ethan is offered a job that is too good to be true that involves magic and murder. As readers, this isn't exactly a new idea, but it remains entertaining nonetheless. This is when we are introduced to the side characters. None of them are in any danger of stealing the spotlight from the main character, and could have been fleshed out with a bit more consistency. Ethan's love interest, Kannice, is particularly wishy-washy. One of the main antagonists, Sephira Pryce, never really seems to be anything more that a cardboard cut-out with several scenes of nothing but posturing (especially at the end where her villainy is totally undermined). The clergymen are the best side characters, and hold their own well.

The majority of the book follows Ethan as he investigates a few murders. For the most part this is well done. The pacing evens out, and is interspersed with some good action. Details in the middle of the novel are shown instead of listed off, which also helps things. Again, there was a lot of Harry Dresden stylings here, which I personally really liked.

A few things that bugged me. First, I don't like it when an author blatantly hides things from the reader, and almost rubs the reader's nose in it. Take this quote: "Something occurred to him in that moment, but he kept it to himself. He would have time to satisfy his curiosity later in the day...". If you don't want to share with the class, don't even bring it up. It's like saying "I know a secret, but can't tell you about it." Why even bring it up?

Second, and minor, but when Ethan uses magic, he always spouts off the spell in another language (no big deal), then always translates it into English. Every. Single. Time. I hate to keep making comparisons to Jim Butcher, but they apply. We don't need a translation every time Dresden casts a spell. Why? Because we get it with context. It got to the point in THIEFTAKER where it felt like an annotation, and not even part of the story. What's more is that part way through the novel, Ethan can cast spells in his head without saying the words. It feels introduced after the fact, and I knew right away that it would play part in the finale--which it did. To me, it hurt the urgency and drama that this wasn't limited. It also introduces some almost plot holes and some logic flaws in the end.

The ending should have been amazing. Instead it felt...OK. Not terrible, but not awesome either. The identity of the actual villain and his motivations was actually really interesting, and I wish some more focus had been on that. But then the villain does some dumb things (he monologues--I'm not joking), and makes some very unintelligent choices from someone supposedly so evilly intelligent. The final action-ish scene is also very vague, and required my rereading of several parts to get an idea of what was actually happening. Some added clarity would have elevated this scene dramatically.

Yikes. Lots of negative there. The book isn't that bad. To me it rides the line of "Mediocre" and "Like", while falling in the group of the latter. The setting and ideas are enough to carry it, and the main character is likable. The main thing that seems off to me is the consistency of the overall voice of the novel. I fully expect this to be resolved in the second book of the series now that Jackson has a grip on everything.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Strong but infrequent
Violence: Never really all that bloody
Sex: Nope. A bit of innuendo, but that's all

Want to give it a try?  Here you go:

THIEFTAKER

History, steam-punk, and the Wild Wild West. What's not to love, right? I tell you, Lou Anders and Mike Resnick absolutely had an awesome brain-child of an idea when they decided to run with this one. There's so much possibility with this mixup. So much real estate at your fingertips. And yet the first book was a bit iffy. Being fun and fast but not necessarily the awesome read I had hoped it would be.

THE DOCTOR AND THE KID is the second of those "Weird West" tales by Resnick and continues the story of Doc Holliday and his life in a Wild West twisted by the power of steam and electricity. The three main characters from the first story, THE BUNTLINE SPECIAL—Doc, Ned Buntline, and Thomas Edison—have all moved to Leadville, Colorado where they hope to escape the after-effects of the OK Corral. Doc wants to set up shop as a dentist and drift into retirement/consumption-driven-death, and Ned and Tom follow him to have a quiet place to continue their research.

There honestly wasn't a whole lot to this story. Doc is still an ever-drunk gambler, moving from one bar to the next in the hopes of draining a few bottles, or a few pockets, before crawling into bed soon after the sun comes up. Then he gets taken to the cleaners and either has to make some dough fast or die in a dusty back alley instead of a well-catered hospital. As he's a gunslinger, he decides to rustle up the cash by taking out some criminals, and the one with the biggest reward on his head is Billy the Kid.

The story gets really repetitive really fast, with Doc visiting bar after bar. Problems are solved not by him, but by his dynamic duo (Ned and Tom) that otherwise don't play any kind of role in the story. They are able to come up with a few interesting/funny solutions to the Doc's problems, but there's nowhere near enough to make up for the book's general lack of excitement. Again, like BUNTLINE, this was a fast read with loads of dialogue and single-minded characterization. The minimal overall description didn't help out either. The Wild West just wasn't in it. It was more about being drunk all the time, and letting down your friends, and the overall lack of consequences after gambling away your future if you're just good enough at what you do. Kind of depressing, really. It wasn't bad, although it was definitely a step down from the first in the series.

On the back-end of having read a handful of Resnick's books and short stories, I'm seeing some fairly distinct patterns that just aren't jiving with my tastes: a general lack of immersion, reliance upon quirky humor to carry the story, and anti-climactic climaxes. Fans of his stuff will probably like this book, but it seems to me that the more I read of his work, the more I decide that I'm just not one of those people.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Infrequent but strong
Violence: Some gun-fighting
Sex: Robot/hybrid whores, mild references, a picture mid-book

Here are your links should you want to give this series a shot:
THE BUNTLINE SPECIAL
THE DOCTOR AND THE KID

In my experience, history is a dry and rather boring subject that has made me more prone to "study by osmosis" than other, obviously more effective, methods of gray-matter absorption. There has been but one exception to that rule in my short lifetime, and that exception was my high school AP history teacher. History was not just another subject for her. History was LIFE. It had substance, it had breath; it had body and it had soul. Her passion for the stories of history and the people that populated those tales made me open my eyes and want to learn--not just to get a good grade in the class, or to see what I might glean from mistakes of the past, but to feel and know what it was like to be a part of that past. She made me love History, and no one else has ever had that same effect.

Until now.

EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON by Mark Hodder is the third book in the Burton and Swinburne series and continues the tale of an alternate version of our own history’s Victorian England. It is a world filled with the power of science and steam. It is a world gone horribly awry--a world in which flora and fauna have been genetically altered and grown in giganteum to provide the utmost to mankind and their myriad devices. It is a story of a world fraught with the danger of extinction by forces and powers that were never meant to be wielded by the people of such an age. And yet, even though it's a fantastical world, it's populated with actual figures and places from our past, and what's not to love about something like that?

I think I'm going to have a difficult time relaying just how ridiculously much I enjoyed this novel. Right from page one, when Sir Richard Francis Burton is hiding beneath a bush to try and get a good shot off at Spring-Heeled Jack--a character from the very first book in the series and the divergence point for all of the mass-chaos and mayhem that has ensued ever since--I knew that I was going to love it. I would think that anyone who reads it would.

There are two main story-lines to this book, and each is immediately distinctive. The first is told mostly from Burton’s point of view as he’s traveling toward the Mountains of the Moon, and the oft-thought-of and once sought-after source of the Nile River, at the behest of the Prime Minister of England, Lord Palmerston. The second story-line is also headed by Burton, but in this one he’s suffered a mild form of amnesia and thrown into the war-torn fields of Africa forty years into his future. I know. Amnesia? When was the last time you actually read a book anywhere near half-good wherein a main character had suffered any form of amnesia. I agree, but Hodder totally pulls this one off. It’s so well-done, with locations and events naturally triggering Burton’s memories and not seemingly at the author’s whim, as so many other attempts I’ve read have sounded.

As with our previous outings with Burton and Swinburne, characterization is great, pacing is break-neck, and imagination soars through the upper stratosphere. Spider-Harvesters, flying fortresses, carnivorous plants, and even plant-human hybrids filled the pages with so much fun that I honestly had a hard time keeping up with it all. Another of the great things that Hodder has done with this novel is bring nearly all of the characters from the previous books into play again and then knock a bunch of them off. And let me tell you, my heart twisted each and every time one of them was lost. I’m not a man for tears when reading novels, and twice during this ride I was brought closer than I’d been to that point in a long, long time. The value and importance of every secondary character in this series was driven home by this book. Awesome. Just awesome.

And I even got more parakeets. Ha! Well, that’s actually a pretty large understatement. What I really got was a veritable tidal wave of parakeets, and let me tell you, I couldn’t have been more pleased.

The end of the book was completely satisfying for me, though it certainly didn't leave everything tied up with a bow. It was, however, a spectacular way to close the three-book story arc that started with The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack. If there’s any possibility though of this being the end of line for these two fine gentlemen, you very well may find me curled up in a closet somewhere, sucking my thumb. There’s definitely room for more stories here, and if given the opportunity I will devour every last word that I’m able to get my hands on.

Hodder has completely won me over with this series. Finding authors like Mr. Hodder is the single-most important reason why I read. What more can I say? Buy these books. Read them multiple times. They are just that entertaining. May this only be the beginning of his long and illustrious career.

Cheers.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Very little, but for a copious amount of parakeet insults!
Violence: A moderate number of grisly war scenes
Sex: None

Stop screwing around and buy this series:

THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK
THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN
EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON

Siblings Jill, Megan, and Brian were orphaned while in their youth—but now as adults they still don't know what really happened, since their parents simply disappeared. It turns out that their parents had something to do with the development of Q, a sort of world network of education and communication, and its later incarnation: the Device, the machine that will change the world.

But someone wants the Device for their own use, and Jill and her family are in danger.

THIS SHARED DREAM by Kathleen Ann Goonan is the sequel to IN WAR TIMES, but having not read the first book, I think I went into THIS SHARED DREAM lacking some key information and connection with the characters. In a desire to be up-front, you need to know that even though this book is well written and thought out, it took me weeks to trudge through--it just didn't appeal to me personally, so read this review with that in mind.

The story begins several years after the first. Goonan packs the first handful of chapters with enough characterization and backstory to keep new readers from getting lost. However, it does mean there's not a whole lot of action.

Fortunately it's the characters who make up for this lack of a quicker pace. Jill, Megan, and Brian are all complex people, with a believable relationship with each other as siblings, as well as with their spouses and children. At times the connections they feel with each other and with their parents Bette and Sam are poignant. I admit I'm rarely touched by character inter-relationships as much as I was in THIS SHARED DREAM.

The story revolves around time travel. Bette, Sam, and their friend Eliani Hadntz want to stop war for all time, but it means changing events that would have happened—such as the assassination of JFK—and as a result the timeline we know is much, much different. They use the Device in order to move around in time and know what events to change. Bette and Sam travel timestreams as though they're everyday vehicles, and not some abstract concept. Goonan does the best she can explaining how they move in time, but there's only only so much she can do without making my brain warp from the details.

As a result THIS SHARED DREAM is really a concept story. Goonan's prose is subtle, but it's clear even from the beginning that this is about the steps Hadntz is willing to take in order to create a new world, a world without war—a utopia. Her altruism leads her to attempt to change human nature itself via social engineering. Unfortunately, in this novel she's a rather mysterious creature, and rarely makes an appearance (perhaps we see more of her in IN WAR TIMES?). It's via Bette, Megan, and especially Jill that Hadntz achieves the results she wants. They make a pretty convincing case that their motives are pure. I still wonder, however.

In the end, I'm simply the kind of girl who reads books for the plot and action--and while this book has a definite story, it's so deliberate and pedantic that I had little motivation to pick it up again between chapters. If you enjoy the concepts of time travel and developing utopias, then this book is full of what you're looking for. If you want quick-paced, lighter time-travel fare without overt agendas, try Connie Willis instead.

Recommended Age: 16+ more for reading comprehension than content
Language: Fewer than five instances
Violence: Referenced, but nothing detailed, and even then infrequent
Sex: Rape is referenced


Want to grab this novel? Below are the links to it and the prior novel as well:

1 - IN WAR TIMES

2 - THIS SHARED DREAM

Admittedly, there are some great perks to being a reviewer. The lavish lifestyle includes all-expense-paid trips to foreign countries, supermodels, perfectly cooked steaks...OK, none of that. I get books. Lots and lots of books. Some are awesome, and some are terrible. One of the greatest perks is reading a novel I'd never have picked up on my own and discovering how fantastic it is. That happened to me last year when I read Marie Brennan's A STAR SHALL FALL. Set in historic London, the novel unexpectedly shoved me down in my comfy reading chair and didn't let me up until I had finished the novel. Understand, that sort of thing rarely happens to me anymore.

Brennan's latest, WITH FATE CONSPIRE, quickly became one of my must-reads of the year. So when it came in the mail (personally sent by the author herself, no less) I happily returned to my comfy chair and began reading. The concern should be obvious. Could Brennan easily capture my imagination again? Would the literary lightening strike twice?

Yes. Yes it did.

WITH FATE CONSPIRE is a completely absorbing novel. I think, though, that much of the reason I loved Brennan's latest is that she didn't write the same type of novel again. Oh sure it is still about the Onyx Court. Faeries are still hidden right under the noses of the mortal Londoners. But this novel is SOOOOOO different. This story tales place in London of the 1800's with the underground rail system being completed. As you can imagine, the iron rails are causing immense destruction in the Onyx Court. WITH FATE CONSPIRE is the tale of a civilization of faeries trying to save their home and preserve it for the future. This isn't the love story that A STAR SHALL FALL was (though that element isn't totally absent). This is a tale of corruption and redemption.

One of the main characters of the novel is Eliza, a girl who saw her childhood love abducted by faeries years ago. Her goal at first is simple; find her lost love. The other main character is Dead Rick, one of the fae. He has no memory of his life prior to a few years ago, and his memories are being held hostage. They are two wildly distinct characters, and neither one ever got to the point where I thought, "Geez, i wish we could get to the other character again..."

However with these individual character stories comes my only real tiny issue with the novel. That bit I mentioned about Eliza looking for her lost love? It's mentioned on the dust jacket. It's her main motivation for the entire story. Yet as a reader, the story tried overly hard to avoid telling me what happened until over half-way through the story. Sure it was a great reveal when it happened, but seeing it earlier (like, at the very beginning) in full detail wouldn't have hurt the story in the slightest, and would have given me a much better reason to identify with her plight right at the onset of the story.

But that's it. That's the only small thing that stood out. The rest was absolutely great.

The writing was fantastic. There are very few authors that really impress me with the way they write. Bakker. Valente. Gaiman. Brennan, for me, is right there. I love how she writes. Her descriptions of old London are vivid. If I'm honest, I'm seriously jealous of how she does it. Her pacing is slow, but never dull. I often felt like I was slowing down my reading purposely so I could catch all the little literary goodies she has buried in the pages. And even though this novel (as is the case with her prior novels as well) is slower, I found the reading to be easy and relaxing. The pages flew by.

I love how believable her characters are. Everything in this setting is bleak, yet the characters never truly give up hope. They will go to any length to meet their diverse goals.

Brennan's work isn't for everyone. There are some readers who just won't like this novel as much as I do. Then again, that's kind of the point. Different strokes for different folks, and all that. I love these books. WITH FATE CONSPIRE is absolutely fantastic. It can be read as the fourth book in the series, or by itself. Whichever way you read it, the important part is that you DO read it.

Like I said, being a reviewer has its perks. One of those is being able to discover an author as awesome as Marie Brennan.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Based on the types of characters encountered, and the time period, there is a lot more swearing than in the prior novel. It never really feels shock value though.
Violence: Violence isn't really relied on in this series. Sure there is some great, brief action, but it isn't a focal point.
Sex: Talked about, but nothing detailed.

Why do all good YA novels have adults in them that are either incompetent, abusive, or otherwise inattentive to the point-of-view children? Easy answer: because any rational adult seeing children in such horrific and/or dangerous circumstances, would without a second thought step into the story, hide the kids in the basement, and call the SWAT team to take out the bad guys. How on earth does that even remotely apply to an alternate historical fantasy based on WWII German superhumans fighting magic-wielding Warlocks? Stick around and find out.

BITTER SEEDS is Ian Tregillis’s debut novel and the first in the Milkweed Triptych. Apparently when the guy isn’t working at Los Alamos National Labs, he chums around with writers like George R. R. Martin and Daniel Abraham. Smart people + smart writers = total coolness. To say the least, I was interested in this one before I ever found out what it was about. And after I did? Talk about upping the stakes.

The novel centers around World War II with POVs from both sides of the struggle. From England, we get Lieutenant-Commander Raybould Marsh, former soldier and current member of the Secret Intelligence Service, who gets caught up in the workings of an uber-secret group named Milkweed after he recovers a filmstrip showing German super-humans flying, and disappearing, and levitating machine guns. His buddy, the wealthy Englishman William Beauclerk, has been lazing about trying to get into trouble when Marsh approches him with news of the supernatural. This isn’t totally off, as Will’s family is one of a long line of Warlocks, who can use their skills to engage the powers of the Eidolons, a magical race of uber-creatures that remind one of nothing more than mini-cthulus. From the German side we get Klaus. He’s one of the sought-after super-humans and can essentially turn himself into a ghost for as long as he can hold his breath and his battery, to which he is wired, has a charge. Klaus has contemporaries, however, that include a man that can incinerate pretty much anything, a nearly-mindless cripple that can smash armored tanks to bits, and his sister, Greta, who can see into the future. Throw all of this goodness together with crushed ice, shake, pour, and you can’t help but get awesome, right?

Right?

Well, I admit, there is some awesome to be had, but overall most of it just fizzled for me. First the good though.

The biggest thing going for this novel is the descriptions. Great setting, history, sense of place. Interesting and complicated concepts are easily understood. Not once did I get held up because I didn’t understand something. There are also a lot of pretty cool ideas that have been put into the story. Background and history and continual intrigue also factor into the works. Characterization was decent, though two of the main PoV character, Marsh and Will, were pretty much indistinguishable from one another. Prose is well-done and reads fast.

A large issue I had though was that it just didn’t feel like any of the main characters did anything of note. Marsh goes on a number of recon missions and feeds information back to his superiors. Will collects up all his Grandfather’s friends that are Warlocks and then let them deal with the Eidolons. Mostly what Klaus seems to do is run away from things. There were a few times that he made decisions, but they really didn’t lead anywhere. Most of these complaints can probably be boiled down to the fact that there really wasn’t a logical, progressive plot that I could follow. I didn’t know from one chapter to the next really what was happening, or what any of the individual groups were trying to accomplish. Most of the story is told from a very high-level summary-laden perspective, with infrequent character-centric moments, and on the whole just didn’t work very well to relay the story. You can probably chalk this one up to the fact that the guy is a new author though. He'll learn to be better.

Despite the good and the bad that I found here, the piece that really took all the tension out of everything for me was Klaus’s sister, Greta. She’s a pre-cognitive without a leash, and as such she pretty much just pulls everyone’s strings. They all dance to her whims, whether they know it or not, and though it's stated several times throughout the book that she’s most likely a sociopath, I didn’t really get that from the interaction I saw from her. For me, Greta was just like the well-meaning parent that swoops in to save the day, placing her children in the basement and taking care of everything herself. Granted, she does make one decision that questions my opinion in this regard, but I just couldn’t bring myself to see her as a sociopathic manipulator rather than a benevolent dictator.

In the end, this one was nearly a study for me in amazing potential leading to disappointment. I can’t say that it was bad, but it wasn’t great either. From what I understand though, due to some truly horrific circumstances associated with Tregillis's previous editor, the entire trilogy is essentially done and waiting for approval from his current editor. Not Rothfuss-done. Just done. So that can’t be a bad thing for readers. If you do pick this one up and find that you like it, at least you can be happy that they’ll probably be put out fairly fast.

Recommended age: 18+
Language: Infrequent, but strong
Violence: A few bloody fight scenes but for the most part, no
Sex: Very little, though there are a few direct references to necrophilia

Ian Tregillis's Website

Every once in a while I come across a book, or series of books, that totally yanks the carpet out from under me. I don’t expect more than the ordinary when I pick ‘em up (other than, perhaps, noticing the amazing cover art). I plop myself down in a chair, open the thing up, and quite simply just get to it. Then it reaches out, smashes me in the face with its awesomeness, and says, “You love me!” Leaving me with naught to do but obligingly respond, “Yes. Yes I do.”

THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN is the second of three planned Burton and Swinburne novels written by Mark Hodder and, after reading its predecessor, was every bit the book that I had hoped it would be. If any of you missed the announcement, Mark Hodder recently won the 2011 Phillip K. Dick award for THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING-HEELED JACK. Awesome that he won it? Yes. Even if I did have a few problems with the book, I still think this guy deserves the praise. So if there are any doubts niggling your brain as to the possibility of goodness in this second book, let me disabuse you of them forthwith.

Sir Richard Francis Burton is dead.

Well, okay, not really. He’s actually just trying to catch a break and get back to finding the source of the Nile, which, if you remember from the first novel, was one of his driving passions prior to SPRING-HEELED JACK. It isn’t long before he comes across the Clockwork Man of the title and things get moving. Immediately, Burton is entrenched in mystery and danger, and we very soon start to see the development of the much larger story of interest for the trilogy: discovery of the Eyes of Naga, several black stones of interest that came from a meteorite and have provided some very mystical powers to people, indeed. His search takes us down into the city sewers, out into the country, searching through lost legends, and quite literally down into the belly of a beast. Frankenstein-like monsters, ghosts, mind-control and more warp the very fabric of the pages. Nothing short of a barrel of fun.

This book had so many high points. Hodder’s prose is again super easy to read. When combined with the rapid evolution of the story, the pacing of the book stayed fast and furious. One of the things I was really happy to see was the development of Swinburne as a character. My impression of him from the first novel was less than stellar. He came across as somewhat of a peculiar ne’er do well with a penchant for mild philosophy. This time through, he not only adds to the plot but makes for a regular source of humor that had me in stitches more than a few times. Aside from this, Burton continues to get better, and I was absolutely enthralled by his character as he put the pieces of the various puzzles together.

Hodder is also very concerned in this book with how the world has changed as a result of the events in SPRING-HEELED JACK. The world is moving on from its divergence point, and the countries of Europe specifically are evolving at a frenetic pace. War is coming to Europe and its nations, only this time it’s powered by the Eugenecists and their newly-mangled scientific fare. All of the Eugencist-created cornucopia from the first book is here again, plus more. Giant swans that pull massive kite-conveyances through the air. Loads more insult-laden parakeet messengers. (Thank you!) Garbage eating crabs that incinerate trash left upon city streets. Massive millipedes that have been slaughtered, scooped out, and turned into cheap structures for city buses. Just wow. And, of course, there are the Clockwork Men. Yes, you noticed. There's more than one. :) Oh. And book three is set up absolutely perfectly, people. Can you believe that? A second book that not only preps for the next in the series but has a complete story as well? Seriously. How often do we see that?

There were only a few minor blips for me. The first is something that I see in nearly every mystery novel, so it’s somewhat forgivable. It’s the portrayal of a scene where the main character (Burton, in this case) finally knows what's going on and deliberately withholds the information from us. (As in, "Burton explained to everyone in the room what was going on. Then he laid out his plans to them.") Annoying, true, but given the quick pace of the novel it wasn’t very long before I found out what was happening anyhow, and so I can only complain so much about this. A second point is that the Clockwork Man of the title really only sets off the initial search, and though he was involved in the events that eventually played out (to great effect, I might add) he was never pivotal to the mystery. So, although I liked the title, based on the Clockwork Man’s involvement in the story, I probably would have changed it. Okay, now I’m quibbling. Can you tell that I just loved this book? I’m complaining about the title for crying out loud! Lol.

On the whole, this series is completely reminding me of the great Sherlock Holmes stories. In fact, I think that if someone doesn't pick this series up and make a few movies out of it, it'll be an entirely massive disservice to the entire world. The books would lend themselves perfectly to that medium, paralleling the Sherlock Holmes movies, which I loved, that have recently been released. In a movie-world full of copy cats I'm surprised that someone hasn't already done a Sherlock Holmes movie mock-up. If someone picks this one up, and does it right by staying true to the story, they could easily come out on top.

Can't wait for the next!

Recommended age: 16 plus
Language: Mostly mild, PG-13 worthy
Violence: Fairly tame for the most part, but quite graphic in a few sections toward the end.
Sex: A scene of mild S&M that was hilarious but still S&M worthy

Still the closest thing I can find to a Mark Hodder Website

Anyone else just LOVE the movie Mary Poppins? Yes, the one put out by Disney. Of all the movies I watched as a child, this is one of the few that I really remember enjoying every time I watched it. As I read this novel, my mind ran back to those days: I kept seeing that view over London when Dick Van Dyke took the group across the rooftops, I kept tapping my foot to Step in Time, and at random moments I would begin to whistle Feed the Birds. The atmosphere of this book was just...ah, well, I get ahead of myself.

THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK, from all accounts, is Mark Hodder’s debut novel, the first of the Burton and Swinburne series, and quite the offering to genre fiction as such. Alternate historical fiction with a load of twists, this story takes us on a vigorous romp through Victorian England like nothing I’ve ever before read. Steampunk at a glance with coal-driven bicycles and helicopter/easy-chair mishmashes, but there are also mega-lithic horses, greyhound post runners, message-delivering parakeets with a penchant to adlib insults, and werewolves as well. The world Hodder has developed here is everything we expect from the foggy, gritty streets of London, but filled with oh so much more for the taking as part of the bargain. At times, some of this stuff almost had the flavor of Mieville. Almost.

Sir Richard Francis Burton is a cornucopia of a man--a known explorer, scholar, and swordsman--but recently his reputation has been brought into question by a former friend and accomplice, John Speke. But then, alas, the decrier shoots himself, and Burton is devastated. This is the tipping point for Burton. From there it isn’t long before the focus of our tale comes into play, Spring Heeled Jack, to tell him that John Speke has shot himself three years too early (time travel!) By the way, if you didn’t catch how utterly awesome Jack looks, go take a minute and drool over Pyr’s cover, because it seriously deserves your attention.

Finished? Good.

Unfortunately, the first several chapters were very tough to get through. Several mid-scene jumps through various character’s heads made things difficult to follow, and there was little to no characterization, information dumps galore, and a multitude of flashbacks. In short, it was fairly painful. After fifty or so pages though, Jack shows up and things finally get moving. Burton quickly garners a job from the crown, and the story turns toward the crux of the movement: the mystery of Jack.

Hodder’s prose here is excellent. Great descriptions, his pacing methodical and quick, as I started to mention above the atmosphere is just great, and the few characters that the story revolves around become well-developed as we spend time with them. Happily, the mystery of the lightning-ridden purveyor of violence is slowly meted out as Burton follows one clue to the next, bringing him ever closer to the truth. I loved this portion of the book. Every chance I had to get into its pages, I took with relish. The interaction between the various political thought-groups was grand, the introductions of science’s new products were comic and thought-provoking, and even the star-crossed love story caught my interest.

Then part two came along, and I was left in a fog of disappointment.

The book is split into three parts. The first focuses on Burton, and introduces his pal Swinburne in small measure, focusing mostly on the main story. The second part is entitled: Being the true history of Spring Heeled Jack. As I read this, I remember thinking, “But I don’t want the ‘true history of Spring Heeled Jack’. Can't I just have Burton's story ?” This section is exactly what it says it is: a history of Spring Heeled Jack--where he came from, why he was there, and his motivations behind everything he's done. In this, we see in detail everything he’s been through, and thus replay once more a large portion of the scenes from Part 1, only this time from Jack’s perspective. I found that reading this part of the book completely took the steam out of everything (no pun intended...okay, maybe just a small one). The mystery was gone, and I now knew everything. For a while, I was hoping that I would be able to just encourage you readers to skip Part 2 and come back afterward to read it, had you the desire, (kind of like an appendix of the non-fleshy variety, though every bit as optional), but that didn’t end up working out because without part 2, Part 3 wouldn't make any sense. Grumble, grumble.

In the end, everything about the story came together. The holes were filled in. The tale was complete, and for the most part I was a satisfied reader and considered that I had liked the book. More than anything though, I wish that it had continued in the vein within which it spent two-thirds of its pages. It's too bad that this was not to be the case, and I have to cry "disappointing execution". I’ll most definitely be reading his next book though. This is, after all, his debut, and he can only get better from here.

Just don’t take the easy route next time, Mr. Hodder. Please. Give us more stuff like Part 1. More story. Less appendix. Story is what we love. Character is what we crave. We believe in you. Now go write some more.

Recommended age: 16 plus, for violence and themes
Language: A decent amount, though infrequent
Violence: One fairly gruesome scene, general description of wolf-ravaged carnage, some sword fights
Sex: Addresses the concept of sexual assault upon a minor

Closest thing I could find to a Mark Hodder Website

The Wild West. Dusty towns. Empty streets. Tumbleweed rollin’ ‘cross the prairie. Tombstone, Arizona. Ain’t nothin that better describes it. But this ain’t no normal town. No. It’s got electric cars. Magic Indians. Undead and vicious monsters alike. Read em all and weep, people, cause Resnick’s come to town.

THE BUNTLINE SPECIAL is a weird Wild West tale stripped out of the historical annals of the region and twisted to decent effect by the master of science fiction, Mike Resnick. Think “electro-punk western” and you won’t be far off.

The plot is pretty straightforward. The American Indians have kept at bay the expansionist dreams of the United States with their magical powers and somebody’s upset about it. So they send Thomas Edison out to Tombstone to figure out a scientific way to negate the magic of the Indians. A few of the chiefs don’t take too kindly to it and so Tom is soon in a heap of mortal trouble. So the local sheriff, one Wyatt Earp, calls in a couple of his buddies, Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday, to help him and the brothers Earp protect the scientist. Then, of course, it’s the Indian’s turn, so one of them resurrects Doc Holliday’s only rival when it comes to shooting: Johnny Ringo. And at long last, the stage is set.

The story itself revolves around Doc Holliday, a veritable dentist, who drinks enough whiskey each day to drown an elephant and is slowly dying of consumption. Despite this fact, he’s still the quickest draw in the west and there’s not a soul that doesn’t know just what ol’ Doc will do to 'em if they get on his bad side. He flashes his guns, grumbles at his girl (the proprietor of the town’s only whore house), and talks literature whenever given the chance.

The style of Buntline reminded me a whole lot of STALKING THE DRAGON, the most recent book that I've read by Resnick. After ripping through two chapters and seeing that about 85% of the text was dialogue, a few things became fairly obvious. One, this book was going to move fast; two, I probably wasn’t going to get a whole lot of characterization; three, atmosphere was going to be minimal, sure shootin’; and four, I better not expect a whole lot of action either. That’s essentially what I got.

All the characters are pertty much the same (and no that’s not a spelling error--think dialect): Old West hard cores that’ll shoot you in the head before you can so much as sneeze at them. They talk hard, have short tempers, and are ready to go for their guns at the drop of a hat. Lots o’ drinking and gambling and whoring to be had. Surprisingly though, there was also a lot of respect for the law when it came to killing people. Funny, that.

I had to laugh when I got to the end and realized that the chick that is apparently on the front cover barely even makes a proper showing. Ain’t nothing like a bit (bundle) of cleavage front and center though to make the masses check it out. The book, people. Sheesh. What did you think I was talking about?

Overall, there was too much talking (surprise, surprise) and not enough action for me. Additionally, one of the subplots totally overtook the book, leading to the climax (which only got two pages as it was) feeling fairly lackluster and without impact. It was decent though. Fast, interesting, and infrequently funny, this book is something that you could easily pick up between, say, two Malazan novels and totally blow through with a respectable amount of enjoyment to be had.

In the end, it was fun, but really quite superficial. Right on the edge of "Like" and "Mediocre."

Recommended age: 16 plus
Language: Some fairly strong language
Violence: Animal mutilations, people getting shot
Sex: Talk concerning the whore house, a couple short scenes without detail, and a picture of a robot whore (yes, they're in the book, and don't ask, because I have no idea)

Mike Resnick’s Website

Dave Duncan is one of those guys that has been improving his trade for years. From this experienced writer comes SPEAK TO THE DEVIL. Duncan's offering here is set in an alternate historical version of 15th-century Europe. It has all that you would expect from that time period; knights, feudalism, oppression and religion, all with the addition of magic and a fake country.

The biggest selling point to us for this novel was it's handling of magic. There was nothing revolutionary about it. Magic is real, magic is awesome, magic is frowned upon...OK it's looked at virtually as Satanism, so maybe a little worse than frowned upon. It is also used heavily by the same aristocrats that condemn it and oppress those who would use it. Sound familiar? It should. That's OK though because Duncan manages it magnificently. It never feels hamfisted, hackneyed, or like the drama and irony were thrust upon us. It played beautifully into the narrative.

The magic also has a very cool religious bent to it. In fact the system uses prayers to Saints as a means for accomplishing the arcane feat. Of course the Church says they are demons or devils, not really Saints. It's also never made completely clear which is actually true. Love it.

The story revolves around a bunch of brothers, a few of whom can "speak to the devil", and their quest for recognition, redemption, power, etc, etc. The main character, Anton Magnus, is just a regular ol' ambitious knight-type wanker, and has a brother who is hostage, a couple brothers who can speak to Devils/Saints and do nifty things. While the main character is just an average joe, he completely shines in the role. He is very fun, though a bit cliched. Each of the 5 brothers are portrayed and developed well, and each are unique and interesting additions to the story.

Anton basically draws the attention of some "higher-ups" and gets sent to the bumblef*** north to fight off all sorts of nasties, make a name for himself, and help his family out of their numerous problems. The ensuing action gives us warm fuzzies. There is also the obvious foreshadowing that there is much, much more going on.

The books is light, and active. It moves extremely quick, yet manages to squeeze some really rad and accurate description into it. Duncan perfectly portrays the impeding death of knighthood and the fast-changing nature of combat in that era. The book will be over before you know it, and you'll be looking for the sequel.

The ending leaves quite a bit to be desired, and doesn't really resolve much of anything--it's the first novel in a series after all. But yeah, this isn't a self-contained novel in the slightest. It's very obvious that this novel is a small first step towards something bigger for the Magnus brothers. What that something is, who can say. We imagine--and look forward to--the sequel being released shortly, WHEN THE SAINTS. Can't freaking wait.

Recommended Age: 12 and up.
Language: Nothing of note.
Violence: Great action scenes. Nothing gratuitous.
Sex: Nothing of note.