LAST UPDATE
3/31/14
The Dark Eidolon
and Other Fantasies by Clark Ashton Smith, Penguin, 2014, $16, ISBN
978-0-14-310738-5
A
new selection of Clark Ashton Smith’s distinctive fantasy stories
selected by S.T. Joshi. Most of his best stories are included here,
including the opening “The Tale of Satampra Zeiros”, in which two
would-be thieves encounter an amorphous monster in an abandoned temple.
Another of my favorites is “The Devotee of Evil,” wherein a man seeks
purified evil. There’s a strange island culture in “The Uncharted Isle,”
one of the few I hadn’t read before. Classic pieces include “Ubbo
Sathlas,: “The Vault of Yoh-Vombis,” “Xeethra,” “Genius Loci,” and the
title story but all of them are quite good. Smith was one of the most
evocative writers working in the pulps and his imagery remains vivid
today even if his language might seem archaically formal at times. Not
a bad story in the book, and there are notes by Joshi about some of the
content. There is also a selection of prose poems, that is, fragments
and brief images that aren’t really stories, some of which are very
effective, and another selection of actual poetry. Smith is one of the
few fantasy writers whose poetry I actually find genuinely entertaining.
3/31/14
The Stone Boatmen
by Sarah Tolmie, Aqueduct, 2014, $20, ISBN 978-1-61976-027-1
I
believe this unusual fantasy is a first novel by an author previously
known for her poetry. The setting is a world where three island cities
have lost contact with one another for many generations. Each city has a
special predilection - dreams, rituals, and poetry - and their societies
have thus diverged significantly. The isolation is about to end,
however, as one of the cities is the base for a series of exploratory
voyages which will bring them back together. The cover blurb suggests
that this will not appeal to general fantasy readers - a marketing
device I would have avoided - because of its concentration on prose and
situation rather than action. There's an element of truth to that
because most of the conflict is a conflict of ideas and values rather
than physical. I'd describe the story as restful but that suggests that
it was dull or slow moving, neither of which is the case. It's an odd
sort of book which I enjoyed without getting excited, and which I might
well find myself remembering more distinctly than many another more
rousing story. 3/22/14
Irenicon by Aidan
Harte, Jo Fletcher Books, 2014, $26.99, ISBN 978-1623650391
Here's
an unusual fantasy that is simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar. The
first volume in the Wave Trilogy is set in the equivalent of a 14th
Century European city which has managed to defeat an aggressive empire.
The city, Rasenna, is divided into two parts by a massive river. Sounds
pretty standard, right? Well, the twist is that the river itself has
somehow become a living thing and it is not particularly well disposed
toward humans. As if the inimical river wasn't enough, the society in
Rasenna is spiraling toward self destruction thanks to a culture which
pits elements against one another even long after the cause of the
conflict is removed. A project to build a bridge across the river seems
to be the best chance of getting the various factions to pull together,
which is necessary not only to improve conditions within Rasenna, but
because the defeated empire has not accepted its defeat gladly and
as we all know the empire always strikes back. It's a first novel but it
doesn't show the occasional clunkiness often found in debuts. I've long
since grown tired of trilogies, but that doesn't mean there aren't still
good ones appearing from time to time. 3/21/14
The Door by Andy
Marino, Scholastic, 2014, 17.99, ISBN 978-0-545-55137-3
The
doorway to other worlds can be found both in adult and young adult
fantasy, but it seems particularly popular in the latter. This is
another variant, centering on a lighthouse, where a young girl opens the
gateway after two mysterious strangers show up. Hannah has a kind of
extrasensory perception which she mostly conceals, but when her mother
is murdered, the crisis causes her to look at the world in a different
way. The world in which she finds herself is familiar in some ways, but
very different in others. This is an odd sort of story about which I
can't say too much without spoiling the effect of the novel itself.
Hannah explores the new world, makes new friends, acquires a family of
sorts, and has several low key adventures. It's more reflective than
most YA fantasy I've read and has a mildly ambiguous ending that is also
unusual. 3/15/14
River of
Nightmares by Alex Archer, Gold Eagle, 2014, $6.99, ISBN
978-0-373-62167-5 1713
Alex
Archer is a house pseudonym for this series, in this instance concealing
the identity of Jean Rabe, who has written several previous adventures
as well as a number of fantasies under her own name. Annja Creed is back
in the Amazon filming an episode of her television program about legends
and oddities across the world when she hears of a tribe that uses a
mysterious drug to experience things impossible to everyone else. The
temptation to investigate is irresistible as well as necessary to the
plot, but this time our protagonist may have stuck her nose into
something with which even she can't deal. Except that since this is an
ongoing series, we know she's going to prove capable eventually. I'm not
sure just what it is about this series that I find enjoyable but I've
read a few dozen of them now and still find them entertaining. 3/14/14
The Wicked by
Douglas Nicholas, Atria, 2014, $16, ISBN 978-1-4516-6024-1
Not
a first novel but a name new to me, and sequel to Something Red,
which I haven't seen. Both are set in a magical version of 13th Century
England. There's a creepy presence in a local castle that may or may not
be connected to the disappearance of several people, each of which turn
up dead and apparently very quickly aged. There's a young woman with
healing powers, a troubled aristocratic family, a curse, and lots of
mysterious comings and goings. This isn't a period of history which I
usually find appealing to read about, but Nicholas has a fluid, engaging
style that got its hooks into me quite quickly. The novel seems much
shorter than it is and I was sad to see it end, but at least I know now
that I have to track down the first in the series. 3/11/14
The Raven's Shadow
by Elspeth Cooper, Tor, 2014, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-3167-0
Things
begin to disintegrate on ever front in the third volume of the Wild Hunt
series, which is fairly traditional high fantasy though with
occasionally interesting variations. There have been glimmerings of war
across the border between worlds in the earlier volumes but now it seems
that it is imminent if not inevitable. The main protagonist, who makes
use of a kind of musically derived magic, has been traumatized by his
experiences up to now and is presently obsessed with a desire for
revenge and an abhorrence for what he has seen. This emotional turmoil
has also interfered with his magical talents. As violence breaks out and
old enmities cause new problems. This is the most exciting volume in the
series so far - and no, it does not end here - but it's slightly less
interesting creatively because the action sequences become the main
focus. Open ended series with no clearly defined destination are not my
favorite thing but Cooper will keep me reading at least for a while
longer. 3/10/14
The Mapmaker's War
by Ronlyn Domingue, Washington Square, 2014, $15, ISBN
978-1-4516-8889-4
There
are some interesting twists in this otherwise conventional fantasy novel
by a writer whose name is unfamiliar to me, although she's had other
work published, not in the fantasy genre. The protagonist is a
cartographer in an alternate fantasy world who sets out to map the
lesser known lands around her kingdom where she encounters a wealthy
little land whose inhabitants claim they are guarding a great unknown
treasure. When she tells people back home, she is appalled to discover
that the peaceful people are officially listed as a threat by avaricious
officials who want their wealth. Exiled, she returns to the land she
discovered and tries to make a life for herself. This is an oddly
structured fantasy which will surprise you primarily because it doesn't
follow the usual plot paths. It's also very well written and the
de-emphasis on physical conflict and the other tropes of contemporary
fantasy provides a welcome break. 3/8/14
The Tropic of
Serpents by Marie Brennan, Tor, 2014, $25.99, ISBN
978-0-7653-3197-7
A
Lady Trent novel. One of the signs of a good writer is someone who can
make me look forward to a subject area that I don't usually find
interesting. As a general rule, the presence of dragons in a book is
likely to make me queasy in advance (elves and fairies have the same
effect except even stronger). The protagonist of this and the previous
Lady Trent novel, The Natural History of Dragons, is a naturalist
in a fantasy world whose specialty should be obvious from the title. In
order to pursue her researches, she has to travel to remote and often
dangerous parts of her world, and studying dragons is in itself a
somewhat risky business. Her latest jaunt is into a region which has
recently been devastated by war and whose aftermath is less than
reassuring. In addition to the usual dangers inherent in traveling
through unsettled territory with unknown aspects, she has to deal with
her companions, who include a runaway heiress among their number. And
all of that is merely the prelude to the real adventure. It's always
nice to see someone do something a little different, particularly when
they do it this well. 3/5/14
Age of Godpunk
by James Lovegrove, Solaris, 2013, $8.99, ISBN 978-1-78108-129-7
This
loose series of deity related gods dominating humans comes to an
apparent close with this collection of three novelettes. Each of the
three deals with a different god. In the first case, an African
trickster god chooses an ordinary man to compete in a battle of wits. In
the second - my favorite of the three - a disgruntled student calls for
Satan's aid, which naturally has lasting consequences he did not
foresee. The last, and weakest, involves an exploiting businessman who
ignores the ecology of the world until he meets a journalist whose
career is founded on the idea that humanity should live in harmony with
the world. These appear to have been previously published but I don't
know where. All three are well worth your time. 3/4/14
The Finisher by
David Baldacci, Scholastic, 2014, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-545-65220-9
Thriller
novelist David Baldacci turns his hand to young adult fantasy for his
new book, which reminded me a bit of the movie, The Village. The
protagonist is a young girl who lives in Wormwood, a village surrounded
by the Quag, which is effective impenetrable, or so says the common
wisdom. When one of her friends disappears, she discovers that he left
clues about what happened to him, and as she unravels the clues she
discovers that what she thought was true about her world just isn't so.
Ultimately, the village itself is just as deadly in its own fashion as
is the menacing forest around it. This was kind of fun, and I grew to
like the protagonist, but it never really became a world that I believed
could be real, and therefore the adventures had a kind of artificial
undertaste that wouldn't go away. Certainly worth reading, but it felt
as though some essential element had been left out. 2/26/14
The Barrow by Mark
Smylie, Pyr, 2014, $18, ISBN 978-1-61614-891-1
If
you're in the mood for an epic quest story, this should be on your
shopping list. The opening chapters of the story only hint at the
complexity to come. The discovery of a map supposedly showing the
location of a hoard left by a dead wizard attracts a group of the usual
varied characters for a treasure hunt. Unfortunately, the map is under a
magic spell and is subsequently destroyed before they can take advantage
of it. Or is it? The map reappears and the hunt is back on, but now it's
obviously a more complex process than it initially appeared to be. The
characters are all typical fantasy stereotypes but this is a kind of
hybrid between high fantasy and sword and sorcery, so all bets are off.
There are a few places where an editor should have intervened - frequent
word repetitions, etc. - but it's all small stuff and it's not likely to
bother most readers much if at all. The story is pretty long, although
not excessively so given the parameters of plot and character, and
there's a glossary for those who have trouble remembering who is who. An
interesting debut novel though not an innovative one. 2/23/14
Blood and Iron
by Jon Sprunk, Pyr, 2014, $18, ISBN 978-1-61614-893-5
First
volume of The Book of the Black Earth. Sprunk's debut trilogy was
reasonably good although I thought it showed some of the uncertainties
of the new writer. This opening volume of a new sequence feels more
controlled. A soldier engaged for a mixture of reasons in a war against
another nation is shipwrecked and finds himself at the mercy of those he
came to kill. Initially enslaved, he finds his status altered when his
captors discover that he has some magic abilities he did not himself
suspect. Elevated although still not free, he makes alliances with a
couple of other characters as part of a plot to undermine the status
quo, free the slaves, bring the war to the end, and so forth. It's a
rather ambitious premise and I'm not sure how the author is going to go
about all this without straining credulity, but I'm prepared to be
enlightened in the second volume. 2/22/14
The Dream Detective
by Sax Rohmer, 1925
This
is a collection of stories about Moris Klaw, an antiques dealer who,
with his daughter Isis, solves various problems that generally appear to
be occult in nature, but which are usually not. He explains mysterious
deaths, recovers stolen property, brings ax murderers to justice, and so
forth and so on. There is some fantastic content. Among other things
Klaw can induce some kind of undefined psychic visions in some of his
cases. The stories get a bit monotonous as each includes a diversion
into Klaw’s idiosyncrasies that are rarely interesting and generally
detract from the smooth flow of the plot. Interesting enough that I read
to the end, but not something I’d recommend. 2/19/14
The Clockwork Wolf
by Lynn Viehl, Pocket, 2014, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-4767-2237-5
Charmian
Kittredge returns for a new adventure in a steampunkish alternate
America where magic is real. Her latest client is a woman terrified that
her husband will be identified as a shapechanging killer, and despite
Kittredge’s reservations about the woman, she agrees to take the case.
She investigates the series of attacks and concludes that there are
multiple assailants and that they are part of a more complex conspiracy.
Once again she has to deal with a potentially catastrophic outbreak of
evil magic while simultaneously avoiding the overbearing attentions of
two powerful men who are both in love with her. Not quite as good as the
first one but still quite good overall. I hope this series lasts a
while. 2/7/14
The Dagger of Trust
by Chris Willrich, Paizo, 2014, $9.99, ISBN 978-1-60125-614-0
A
tie-in novel to the Pathfinder game system, although you don't need to
know anything about that to read the novel. A young man studying to be a
bard leads a secret life because he is also in training to become a
professional assassin and spy. He is sent into action when a mysterious
form of magic starts turning small groups of people into murderous
maniacs. Obviously someone is behind it, but their identity and motives
are both well hidden although the fact that the incidents tend to happen
along the border between two realms is suggestive. Although this is a
fairly long book, the prose is rather spare and there were times when I
wanted a bit more description to help me visualize what was happening.
That said, the style also promotes a sense of momentum and the story
certainly races along for most of its length, and the mystery within a
fantasy adventure format is nicely done. It's hard to put this one down
once the story begins to roll. 1/31/14
The Sorcerer’s
Widow by Lawrence Watt-Evans, Wildside, 2013, $11.99, ISBN
978-1-4344-4175-1
Two
not very successful thieves arrive in a small village hoping to acquire,
openly or deviously, the magical artifacts left by a recently deceased
wizard. She sees through them immediately and she has some magical
talents of her own, so she decides to make use of them as escorts as she
brings her late husband’s magical artifacts to Ethshar to be sold to
other magicians. When one of the thieves inadvertently activates an
artifact that repairs broken magic, it wanders off on its own and they
have to pursue it to regain control. Watt-Evans always excelled at
comparatively light fantasy, stories set in typical fantasy worlds but
usually more concerned with ordinary people than knights and wizards and
princesses. That particular style seems to have dwindled in popularity
but he hasn’t lost his gift for creating them. 1/28/14
Daughter of
the Sword by Steve Bein, Roc, 2013, $7.99, ISBN
978-0-451-41635-3
I
believe this is a first novel although there's a second in the Fated
Blades series already out. I found this one used and I've never even
seen a copy of the other. Technically I suppose these are urban fantasy.
They even have a feisty female protagonist and a magic sword. But the
texture is very different. The novel is set mostly in Tokyo and involves
a female detective who is assigned what is supposed to be a minor case,
the attempted theft of an antique sword. She is fated to wield the sword
obviously, but like Moorcock's Elric she discovers that a magical weapon
is at least as much a curse as it is an advantage. The tone of this is
very much that of an Asian noir detective story, an unusual combination
that works remarkably well. I'll be looking for the follow up novel.
1/26/14
Treasure of Lima
by Alex Archer, Gold Eagle, 2014, $6.99, ISBN 978-0-373-62166-8
This
is number 46 in the adventures of Annja Creed, an archaeologist with a
magical sword, who thwarts villainous rivals who want to exploit
artifacts for their own purposes. While vacationing in Costa Rica, she
catches wind of a rumored treasure in an area which has already
swallowed up more than two dozen expeditions. Despite some fantasy
elements, this is mostly just a contemporary adventure story, but it's
quite entertaining, one of the best of the series, which is not
surprising since it was ghostwritten by Joseph Nassise (Alex Archer is a
house pseudonym). Pulp hero magazines may have disappeared but
their spirit lives on in the paperback adventure series, of which this
is my favorite. 1/24/14
The Shadow Throne
by Jennifer A. Nielsen, Scholastic, 2014, $17.99, ISBN
978-0-545-28417-2
It's
very difficult to review the third volume in a trilogy when you've never
seen the previous books, or even heard of them. This is the conclusion
of the Ascendance trilogy and all I know about the first two is what I
was able to read from Amazon. The young protagonist is trying to unite a
land torn by war and political intrigue, and his friends have been
scattered all over the place for individual adventures in the earlier
volume. Now all the threads have to be tied together. The prose is quite
good, not written down noticeably, and I was actually able to follow
most of the separate subplots despite missing the earlier books. I
suspect I would have liked it better if they hadn't been missing. It's
well above average for a young adult fantasy, although the plot breaks
no new ground. 1/20/14
Rex Regis by L.E.
Modesitt Jr., Tor, 2013, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-3634-7
L.E.
Modesitt is one of the few writers whose fantasy works I prefer to his
SF. He is also one of the few writers who seems to get better with each
series. The imager sequence, of which this is the eighth, is a case in
point. The fantastic setting is convincing and interesting, the
political intrigues plausible, the characters well differentiated and
with some depth, and there's an overall sense that the author knows what
he's doing and does it well. This installment in the series comes as the
consolidation of various smaller states into one continental power is
nearing its final stage. The last holdout is considering peacefully
joining with the rest, although the decision is not certain. Just as it
seems that our main protagonist is about to fulfill his life's ambition,
perfidy and plotting within and without the government combine to place
the entire future of his personal endeavors and the world as a whole
into deadly jeopardy. This might be the final volume in the series since
it ties up so many plotlines. If it is, I look forward to entering
whatever world the author chooses to reveal to us next time. 1/18/13
He
Drank, and Saw the Spider by Alex Bledsoe, Tor, 2013, $24.99,
ISBN 978-0-7653-3414-5
The fifth Eddie LaCrosse novel continues its blend
of tough detective story and magical fantasy world. Many years before
his current round of adventures, he saved a young girl from a wild
animal and left her with a family to raise. Now she's all grown up and
caught in the crossfire between two belligerent rulers. There are lots
of royal family secrets to be uncovered, to say nothing of dark sorcery
and an inhuman creature. Aided by his companion Liz, Eddie has to ride
to the rescue once more, risking his life in a gritty, magic fueled
adventure. There have been other writers who have tried this blend
of genres with some success, but Bledsoe's books have a distinct flavor
that makes them stand out. His protagonist is interesting as a person
rather than just as a hero, and the subsidiary characters almost always
come to vivid life. This is sword and sorcery the way it was meant to be
written. 1/9/14
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