Tag Archives: Debut Review

Debut Review: Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Posted on by
4


Angelology: A Novel
by Danielle Trussoni (Author Website, Novel Website – great fun to page thru!)
Viking – Hardcover – $27.95  (heavily discounted at Amazon and elsewhere)
Genre: Supernatural Suspense

This is my first foray into the realm of supernatural or religious suspense. Angelology was a fascinating look at the possible fate of the offspring of Angels, referred to in the Bible as Nephilim.

Sister Evangeline is a young nun at the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in upstate New York. A request through the mail from a young art scholar named Verlaine sends her searching through the convent archives, where she finds a fascinating letter. Verlaine works for a man named Percival, who quickly reveals himself as a monster.

I’d hate to say too much because the plot thrives on secrets, and I don’t want to spoil any of them. The blurb itself gives very little away:

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them.
Genesis 6:5

Sister Evangeline was just a girl when her father entrusted her to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in upstate New York. Now, at twenty-three, her discovery of a 1943 letter from the famous philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller to the late mother superior of Saint Rose Convent plunges Evangeline into a secret history that stretches back a thousand years: an ancient conflict between the Society of Angelologists and the monstrously beautiful descendants of angels and humans, the Nephilim.

For the secrets these letters guard are desperately coveted by the once-powerful Nephilim, who aim to perpetuate war, subvert the good in humanity, and dominate mankind. Generations of angelologists have devoted their lives to stopping them, and their shared mission, which Evangeline has long been destined to join, reaches from her bucolic abbey on the Hudson to the apex of insular wealth in New York, to the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris and the mountains of Bulgaria.

Rich in history, full of mesmerizing characters, and wondrously conceived, Angelology blends biblical lore, the myth of Orpheus and the Miltonic visions of Paradise Lost into a riveting tale of ordinary people engaged in a battle that will determine the fate of the world.

The research in Angelology was fascinating. The various characters uses angel lore derived from the Bible and other sources known as “apocrypha”, which, according to Wikipedia, is books that the Christian church considers useful but is not divinely inspired. The plot also depends on a literal interpretation of Creation and the Flood, which in my experience is an unusual plot feature outside of Christian fiction. However, I would in no way categorize this as a Christian novel; rather it is a novel that treats sources such as the Bible and the apocryphal works with equal respect and relevance, along with an unexpected connection to the myth of Orpheus.

Angelology also employs a technique I’m seeing more and more often: it mixes first and third person. The first section of the novel, which is from Evangeline’s, Percival’s and Verlaine’s point of view, is in third person. Then, after a long and enlightening discussion with a fellow nun named Sister Celestine, the point-of-view switches to Celestine’s. It is a first-person account of her experience with the Second Angelological Expedition in the 40s. During this section, a series of readings from an account from the First Angelological Expedition is read, which takes place in the 900s AD. The final point of view returns to the above three, along with one or two others.

This is a very long novel, with a lot of backstory and reader education. In order to appreciate the story, you not only have to know all about the Flood, but also about the events after the Flood and the bloodlines that sprang from Noah’s sons. Ms. Trussoni manages to make all this interesting and engaging — not at all like a religion lesson. I liked all of the main characters, and I even managed to feel sympathy for Percival, even though he was utterly ruthless.

One of the few problems I had with this novel was the ending. The angelologists (including at this point, Evangeline and Verlaine) must go to four separate places as indicated by four very obscure clues in the letters from Mrs. Rockefeller. Percival, who until this point had yet to succeed in a single task his family set him on, suddenly and without explanation is able to out-maneuver the angelologists at almost every turn. I could see how they were able to be betrayed at one point, but I am unable to account for Percival knowing where they will meet to find the final item. I did enjoy the final struggle between Percival and Evangaline, even though Evangeline’s final fate was by now, not a surprise. I also would have liked to seen the parts that were set in the 40s feel more like a novel from the 40s. But the plot was so nonstop at this point that this is not a true critique. I just love it when authors include those atmospheric touches that make it really feel like you have gone back to that time period (a reason I love historical fiction).

The ending gave me a jolt until I realized there was probably a sequel planned. I do wish publishers would indicate whether a novel is part of a series somewhere on the cover or the title page. Although the main conflict is resolved here, there are a great many unanswered questions and one of the characters goes through a major change that only made me want to read more. And that was a good thing, because by this time, I had been reading for weeks.

Angelology was an instant New York Times bestseller, and it is easy to see why. I think Christians and non-Christians can enjoy this book, because on the one hand the treatment of Biblical lore is respectful, and on the other hand, it is not trying to proselytize. I enjoyed it, but didn’t love it. If you like plot-rich novels with storylines that slowly reveal themselves over hundreds of pages, if you like secret societies with secret expeditions (and who doesn’t?), and if you like stories drenched in research, then this would be a great time to catch this novel and take advantage of all the discounts. (Due to the size of it, I certainly wouldn’t want to attempt to read it as a paperback.) I think Ms. Trussoni has gotten off to a brilliant start.

Debut Review – Soulless by Gail Carriger

Posted on by
10


Soulless
By Gail Carriger (website)
Orbit
Mass market paperback, $7.99

Reviewed by Raven

Soulless was a fun novel. Mix Victorian England with vampires and werewolves and a coy sense of humor, and this book is the result. I think I can safely recommend it for fans of urban fantasy and Jane Austen (I know, Jane Austen is Regency, but still).

The narrative style and characterization made the book. That coy sense of humor I mentioned? It’s front and center in the tongue-in-cheek narration. In some books the narration is invisible, but in others you want to savor the turns of phrase the writer uses. Soulless falls into the second category.

Then we have our heroine, Miss Alexia Tarabotti. She’s not your typical Englishwoman of the time. For one thing, she’s devoured all of her father’s scientific books, so she knows far more about subjects like biology and anatomy than any proper young lady should know. She’s a spinster. She can negate supernatural powers with a touch. She’s also (*gasp*) half Italian. Shocking.

She’s surrounded by a cast of fun and quirky secondary characters, and let’s not leave out her love interest, Lord Conall Maccon. He’s single, gorgeous, and an Earl, which makes him the toast of London society despite his unfortunate Scottish heritage. He’s also a werewolf employed in the intelligence community, and he leads the investigation that forms the core of the plot. Miss Tarabotti, of course, does most of the actual work.

The plot itself is serviceable, but it’s not the novel’s strongest point. In fact, I guessed who the ultimate villains would be as soon as they were mentioned. They were also flatter characters than our hero and heroine and their friends. And some of the final resolution was just a little too pat. I found it wasn’t the story that kept me turning pages, it was Miss Tarabotti and the narration.

Here and there I had a few technical quibbles. Point of view switching in the middle of a scene. Occasional misused words. However, I was having so much fun with the book that I overlooked those.

I did have one big issue with the romantic relationship, and I can’t tell you what it was because it would be a spoiler. Now, if you know me, you know romance is often not my thing, but I’m fine with it as long as everybody involved acts like a rational human being (I can’t stand storylines where our heroine mentally reverts to a 13-year-old maturity level as soon as she meets the hero). In Soulless, nobody became suddenly immature. I actually thought the romance was handled very well except for that one spoiler I can’t reveal. Sorry.

Overall, this novel was a treat. I’ve already flipped back through more than once to reread particularly delicious scenes. Soulless will be taking its rightful place on my bookshelf.

Book two in this series, Changeless, releases on March 31, 2010.

NOTE: I’m not the one who thinks there’s anything wrong with being Italian or Scottish. That’s the prevailing opinion among London socialites in the book.

Debut Review: The River Kings’ Road

Posted on by
4


The River Kings’ Road
by Liane Merciel
Gallery Books
Hardcover – $26

I was excited to hear about Liane Merciel’s The River Kings’ Road because it has been a while since I’ve seen any debut epic fantasies by women.

The River Kings’ Road centers around a handful of characters. Brys is a mercenary, mostly motivated by his own self-interest, but who does rescue the infant son of his lord from a horrific attack during which an entire town is stripped of its blood. He manages to get away just before the spell goes off, but the infant has little chance of survival without its mother. But then, fate puts Odosse in his path, an unwed mother who gladly accepts the task of wetnursing young Wistan, even though he is the child of her enemy.

Shortly afterward, the Blessed Knight Kelland is recruited by the local lord to investigate what happened in the town. You can think of Kelland as a sort of paladin. He is famous in the area, known as the Burnt Knight because of his black skin. His friend and companion is Bitharn, a young female archer who is in love with him. This complicates things because Kelland is sworn to chastity — and his chastity is tied to his power.

And then we have Leferic, the conflicted young uncle to the poor Wistan. Leferic is a morally gray character. In fact, all the characters are gray to some extent — except maybe Kelland — but Leferic is the grayest of them all. His only friend in the world is Albric, who was his tutor and mentor, and who would do anything for him. Anything.

The point-of-view characters are everyone except Kelland and the main villain, the Maimed Witch. One of the problems I had with this novel is the choice of POV often prevented me from getting as emotionally into the plot as I would have liked. For example, we can only see Kelland’s struggles to remain morally pure through Bitharn’s eyes. Brys is so morally ambiguous that his actions often made me wince. I did like him, anyway. We only get in his head a little bit, where we learn about a very interesting woman who does not make an appearance in this novel. Many pages in the opening chapters are given to Leferic, but I didn’t think that every scene was necessary and I kept wanting to move on to the other characters. Odosse is very likable, but she comes across as simpleminded at first. And because we are never behind Kelland’s eyeballs, we must witness the final battle through another character’s eyes.

The strengths in this novel are the difficult choices that all of the characters face. Brys struggles with his own self-interest vs. a sense of honor that he seems to want to stifle. Leferic struggles with the consequences of his actions. Albric struggles between his sense of honor and his sense of love and duty toward Leferic. Bitharn struggles with her desires. And Odosse has more than one heart-rending decision to make. Kelland was the most fascinating character. He’s a man out of place for two reasons, his race and his Blessed status. I did wish we could have spent some time in his point-of-view.

The Maimed Witch is probably one of the most evil, well-conceived and horrific villains I’ve ever come across. One both pities her and is horrified by her. And she ends up having an unexpected and intriguing (if indirect) connection to one of the other characters.

It might be easy to pigeonhole these characters into typical fantasy tropes, except they don’t fit there comfortably. Leferic isn’t your typical evil and ambitious young lord. He seems capable of redemption. There’s no trope that you could ever place Odosse in. Bitharn does seem similar to characters like Valaria from the Conan the Barbarian movie, but without the kick-assitude. Kelland can be seen as a sort of Galahad, but not really. Galahad was never tempted. Maybe he’s more like Lancelot. But not really. Brys might be seen as a warrior with a heart of gold, but I’m not sure if he has a heart of gold. And the maimed witch? Dang. I can’t pigeonhole her anywhere.

The ending took the novel in a direction I didn’t expect at all. It did make sense, but the direction of upcoming novels might swerve away from certain characters. Odosse, for example, seems quite fixed by the end of the novel, and it’s hard to see her having a large part in the next novel. Bitharn, certainly will take center stage and possibly Brys as well.  I don’t get any sense of how many books are planned in this series; it’s simply called A Novel of Ithelas.

Ultimately, I would have liked to have felt a better sense of connection to the characters. I would like to have seen more pages devoted to Kelland and Bitharn, and fewer devoted to Leferic and Albric. I’m not a big fan of the George R. R. Martin style of multiple viewpoints, and the only novel I’ve really loved that has employed this technique is David Anthony Durham’s Acacia series. The shorter length of this novel (348 pages) doesn’t seem to support the multi-viewpoint technique. Yes, I’m complaining that the novel was not long enough. Give me at equivalent time between all the characters if they are all going to have equal weight.

My problem with this novel was probably me. Given the choice between a character development epic and a multi-viewpoint epic, I’ll take the character development epic every time. If you enjoy the multi-POV storytelling style, then there is much to enjoy in The River King’s Road.

Debut Review – The Manual of Detection

Posted on by
11


The Manual of Detection
by Jedediah Berry (blog)
Penguin
Hardcover and Trade Paperback

The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berrywill probably end up in my year end “Best Of” list. It was just about perfectly conceived, perfectly executed, perfectly written, and perfectly charming. I’m hard pressed to think of any critiques. It’s that good.

With that said, it’s not for everyone. This review copy originally went to Raven, who thought it was good but perhaps she wasn’t the right reviewer for it. So she sent it to me. And by sheer luck, I read it just shy of a month after the paperback release date.

The Manual of Detection is a very quirky, well-mannered steampunk fantasy mystery. It is somewhat literary, but never boring. It’s the story of Charles Unwin, clerk of a huge detective agency, who is unexpectedly promoted to Detective shortly after the disappearance of the most famous Agency detective, Travis Sivart.

Mr. Unwin is a man who knows his limitations. He knows that he has no business being a detective. After all, he wears a green trilby hat rather than a fedora, and his shoes always squeak. So his goal is to find Detective Sivart so he can get his old job back.

Permit me to rave about the presentation of the hardcover edition. It’s designed to look like a manual. It has a government-issue green cover, with black embellishments, within which alarm clocks, fingerprints, keys and footprints can be found. It also has a prominent eye. The eye is on the back as well, along with the motto, “Never Sleeping”. It’s a treat, mostly because everything on the cover becomes significant as the story unfolds.

The chapters are each accompanied by a quote from the fictional Manual of Detection. Each quote applies to something that’s going to happen in that chapter. One of these chapters becomes part of the story, and when I read that chapter number, I had to laugh out loud.

The Manual of Detection is a novel of typewriters, if immense filing cabinets, of umbrellas, of alarm clocks, of dumbwaiters, of bicycles, of telephones and of record players. It’s also a novel of steam trucks, of dream recording engines, of ever-winding watches, of traveling carnivals that travel no more, and of unofficial trips for unofficial reasons. No year is given, but I’d guess it takes place in the thirties or forties. There are telephones, electricity, radios, and cars, but no hint of anything like computers, which might have existed in a huge detective agency by the fifties.

Although the novel is told strictly from Charles Unwin’s point-of-view, you never know exactly what he is thinking until he speaks, or what he’s going to do until he’s already doing it. He’s both fussy and bold. When he sneaks into the archives, he gets caught, but then manages to get the archivists to trust him. All three of them. And he’s completely sincere when he is doing it–he takes advantage of no one. He’s an expert clerk, bicyclist, and umbrella wielder. And, he’s a meticulous dreamer.

The only thing I would have wished for was more of the detective agency in its “before” state. Because once it goes “after”, there’s no going back. However, I understand that to include any more might have bogged down the story.

If you read this novel, my advice is to pay attention. Try to read it over a short timespan and pay particular attention to characters who seem to talk about irrelevant things. All is relevant. This will be a wonderful book to reread.

Mr. Barry has achieved critical acclaim with The Manual of Detection, and it is well-deserved. I can’t wait to read his next book.

Debut Review – Deadtown by Nancy Holzner

Posted on by
5


Deadtown
by Nancy Holzner
Penguin/Ace Fantasy
Paperback – $7.99
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Reviewed by Deborah Blake

Victory Vaughn is Boston’s only professional demon slayer, in a city where the vampires, werewolves and zombies are confined to a quarantined section called Deadtown. Not only is she dealing with a workaholic werewolf sort-of boyfriend, a rash teenage zombie apprentice, and a demanding, demon-ridden client, but now the Hellion who murdered her father has come back for her. And he intends to destroy the entire city in the process.

I confess—I wasn’t sure whether or not this book was for me. I love a lot of urban fantasy and some of my favorite authors write in this genre; if you haven’t checked out C. E. Murphy, Jeri Smith-Ready and Kim Harrison, run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore. But I’m not a big fan of the new zombie trend, and some urban fantasies are just too dark or too sexy (more sex than plot, for instance) for my taste.

Happily, Ms. Holzner’s book didn’t fall into either of these categories, and she actually found a way to make zombie characters sympathetic and even likable; something I wouldn’t have thought was possible. Her world-building is detailed, plausible, and highly original, and she doesn’t fall back on too many of the classic paranormal tropes in an effort to tell her story.

DEADTOWN’s protagonist, Vicky Vaughn, is real and believable, and the reader can identify with her problems, even when they are set in a world that is somewhat different from ours. The book jumps right into the paranormal; starting out with Vicky fighting demons in her client’s dreamscape reality, along with her zombie apprentice Tina, who wreaks havoc right and left.

As I said before, Ms. Holzner does a great job of making zombies more appealing than I ever would have thought possible. Three years earlier, a plague hit a localized area of Boston, turning regular folks into the walking dead. One of the reoccurring themes of the book revolves around prejudice and intolerance (in this case toward zombies and other paranormal citizens), and the author handles it well, without preachiness or heavy-handed melodrama.

I only had a couple of small complaints about the book—really small, and nothing that would stop me from recommending it. I sometimes had a hard time believing that Vicky would continue to put up with Tina’s impetuous and often destructive behavior. Vicky’s job as a demon slayer is so important; the reader has to wonder why she would continue trying to train this girl to follow in her footsteps. I also thought the book dragged a bit in a few spots, despite the almost non-stop action. But seriously, these are tiny issues and the rest of the book more than makes up for them.

Overall, however, I found the book entertaining and highly readable. The characters were interesting and believable, and the dynamics of the protagonist’ difficult family and social relationships were as realistic as her world was imaginative.

I am looking forward to the author’s next book and to returning to DEADTOWN. Although I have to say, I’m really glad I don’t have to live there!

~*~

Deborah Blake is one of my most enthusiastic followers, and is constantly linking and Friday Following this blog. I know she loves urban fantasy, so when I received this novel and it wasn’t really for me, I thought of her. Here is her bio:

Deborah is the published author of three nonfiction books on Witchcraft from Llewellyn, with two more coming out this year. She has also written three novels that are as yet— alas— unpublished, including an urban fantasy. Her prize-winning short story, “Dead and (Mostly) Gone” appeared in THE PAGAN ANTHOLOGY OF SHORT FICTION, and she won the EMILY “Best of the Best” award in 2009 for her novel WITCH EVER WAY YOU CAN. She also gives two popular online writing workshops, “Witchcraft for the Paranormal Author” and “Beyond Fangs: Creating New & Original Paranormal Characters.”

Ms. Blake lives in upstate NY in a 100 year old farmhouse with five cats who occasionally allow her to stop petting them long enough to write something. She can be found at www.deborahblakehps.com and http://deborahblake.blogspot.com/ as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

Debut Review: Veracity by Laura Bynum

Posted on by
7


VERACITY
by Laura Bynum
Pocket Books
Hardcover – $25
Dystopian Science Fiction

VERACITY by Laura Bynum was a welcome change of pace, and despite some plausability issues I had with certain aspects of the plot, I enjoyed it very much. Veracity is a near-future dystopian science fiction story.

Veracity begins with Harper Adams making her escape from her job, the government and her country. She can no longer live with any of these and is willing to do anything to escape — even give up her daughter.

For Harper lives in a future America — actually, a post-America — that is so repressive that it forbids the utterance of thousands of words. She worked as a Monitor for the government where she uses her ability to see auras in the enforcement of the law. She can sometimes recognize truth from lies, plus she is precognitive and remote-sensing. Certain technologies keep the populace in line, and deals out instant punishment for any infractions. This includes children. The Blue Coat police force uses rape and unfettered violence to enforce the law. The Bible has been rewritten as the Confederation Bible. It’s a sort of watered-down Christianity, and it’s the only government-sanctioned religion.

This was a real page-turner. Harper was likable, but I would have liked to seen more character development. As I mentioned above, I occasionally ran into problems with plausibility. In writing circles, the willingness of the reader to set aside reality long enough to read the novel is called suspension of disbelief. The story stretched my ability suspend my disbelief in several places. Early on in the story, for example, we learn that many police are unarmed.

“. . . the largely gun-free system has flourished. Fists, elblows, knees, mouth, teeth, the fleshy weapons carried by men, the ones used to inflict more intimate punishments — these broadcast an absolute and terrifying power the business end of a pistol doesn’t match.”

I thought, “huh?” If this were true, our entire history wouldn’t include one huge, never-ending arms race. The business end of a pistol is about the most terrifying thing I can imagine. I immediately wanted to know how the government would have accomplished the incredible task of disarming our gun-loving populace. However, Ms. Bynum dealth with that tricky problem by not dealing with it. It just happened, and it was so. This happened rather frequently.

I also had difficulty believing that so many sweeping and brutal changes could have happened over the course of one generation, especially since they were voluntary changes. People actually agreed to have slates implanted in their necks, which would monitor their every word, and would zap them if they said a Red Listed word. It was a stretch to my credulity.

One could argue that Stalin managed to install a horrifically oppressive regime within a generation of the revolution in 1917. But the Russian regime that preceded the revolution was hardly one based on freedom. There was a reason for the revolution. I do agree that people are willing to exchange their freedom for security, but only incrementally. Which can lead to horrible things, but I would have been more credulous of a fifty year timespan. One hundred years would have been even better.

Since I otherwise found the book intriguing, I decided to suspend my disbelief in my disbelief of my suspension of disbelief.

Harper has a harrowing time getting into the resistance. In order for her to put on a convincing act for the authorities, she can’t know anything until she’s actually in. It was very well done and made the opening pages just fly by. Ms. Bynum has frequent flashbacks to Harper’s draft into the Monitor program and certain key scenes in her high school years. There was one intriguing character early in the story — the Monitor who tested her — that I wanted to see again, but she didn’t turn up.

Among the things Harper has to give up in order to flee the Monitor program and join the resistance is her daughter, Veracity. She has to make it look like she has no love for her daughter, or the government will use the girl as leverage. This made for some great suspense. Another nailbiting series of scenes involved Harper having to go off on a mission all by herself. And she has to go all the way into the bowels of a Blue Coat station. This would make a great book club book. I just want to talk about it, but I can’t say too much because I want you to discover all these interesting plot twists for yourself.

Bravo to the author for not making the ending one of those cliched everything-is-lost types of endings that have been done way too much these days. There is a struggle, of course, but it didn’t follow one of those well-plowed formulas, so it was more unpredictable than some other novels I’ve read lately. The ending ending pages were extremely subtle, and quite well done. Oh, and more kudos to the author for not making this one of those excessively gritty novels. In fact, if it weren’t for the swearing and the sex scenes, this could easily have been a Christian novel.

I think many of the problems I had with the novel were personal because I’m such a stickler for plausibility. Everyone has their own plausibility tolerance level. Obviously the author found it plausible and so did the many people it takes to get a book published these days, and so might you. I obviously enjoyed the story anyway, and I will certainly be interested in reading Ms. Bynum’s next effort.

Here is another point of view by The Crotchety Old Fan.

UPDATE: Remarks in the comments have led me to believe that by ending this review on a low note, I gave the mistaken impression that I didn’t enjoy it. This is not the case. I really enjoyed this novel and found it quite impossible to put down. It was refreshing to read a science fiction novel that didn’t try to shock one’s senses with grittiness, and who isn’t afraid to end a novel on a hopeful note.

Debut Review: Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor

Posted on by
5


Dreamdark: Blackbringer
by Laini Taylor
Firebird Books
Paperback – 9.99
Genre: YA Fantasy

Blackbringer is a Young Adult fantasy that both takes place in our world . . . and in a hidden land within it. It is about a young fairy and a band of crows who fight devils. Cool, huh? It seems that the stupid humans keep coming across the devils in the bottle prisons, and they keep opening the bottles and setting them free. Kind of as if they were genies. The heroine, Magpie, has an idol who she is trying to live up to: the legendary Bellatrix, who vanished without dying thousands of years before.

It took me a while to get into the story, mostly because of the dialog. Ms. Taylor makes uses of idiosyncracies and invented slang that took me a while to get the rhythm of. Also, I had a hard time connecting to the crows. I kept wanting other fairies to come into the story, which took a while. Eventually I did grow to like the crows, but mostly they blended together.

But once Magpie decides to go to Dreamdark, the faerie forest, things really pick up. The plot absolutely had me guessing from one scene to the next. I never expected most of the events, which is a quality that I love in a book, especially when they all make sense in a sort of “aah!” moment.

Several other faeries become important to the story. Talon is a faerie with stunted wings. He’s also a prince of one of the only warrior-like clans in all of Dreamdark. His inability to fly makes him frustrated, especially when his clan’s territory turns out to be the center of the Blackbringer’s operations. This is definitely a handicap in a society that takes flying for granted. Talon kicks ass. The next book features him on the cover, which makes me think he will have a much larger role. He is a fierce warrior with an interesting talent for a male — knitting. Except, he doesn’t just knit any old sock.

Oh, I haven’t mentioned the Blackbringer. He was one of those pesky devils released by a witless human early in the story. Except he isn’t a devil. Most devils are only slightly more malevolent than a rat, and are called snags. The Blackbringer is a djinn who had a hand in all of creation. Which, of course, makes him able to uncreate as well.

Poppy is another important faery, and she has a unique power as well. She also has unusually wide and beautiful faery wings.

Poppy and Talon are both illustrated, as is Magpie and a few other characters. As with many young adult stories, correspondence is depicted in handwriting. Each chapter heading has a pen-and-ink design.

This was a fun and different read. Other than my difficulty adjusting to the pacing and the dialog in the beginning, I can’t think of any critiques! I definitely recommend it. In upcoming books, I would love to see more interaction between human and faery. I’d also like to see Magpie leave Dreamdark again, especially if she brings her faery friends along with her. The publisher sent along the second book in the series as well as the first, so I expect to be reading it soon. Both are now available.

Debut Review: The Magicians and Mrs. Quent

Posted on by
3

TheMagiciansAndMrsQuent
The Magicians and Mrs. Quent
By Galen Beckett
Amazon USA – UK – Canada
Random House – Trade Paperback

Reviewed by Superwench83.

The Magicians and Mrs. Quent—a fantasy novel written in the style of Jane Austen, with characteristics of a Bronte book—is a fantastic blend of smart prose, charming characters, and an unusual and wonderful story. “But it’s more than just a rattling good time,” as author Ellen Kushner says in her cover quote. “Like its characters, it is not merely devastatingly clever, but has a heart and a soul.”

Ivy Lockwell is many things. She is a thinker. She is a lover of books. She is the eldest of three girls. She is the daughter of a mother who desperately wants her to marry—despite the fact that Ivy has no dowry, hence no chance of catching a gentleman. She is also deeply devoted to her family…and that devotion leads her into a world of magick, mysterious men in black tophats, and the stern and quiet Mr. Quent. According to the cover copy, Galen Beckett began writing The Magicians and Mrs. Quent to find out what might happen “if there were a fantastical cause underlying the social constraints and limited choices confronting a heroine in a novel by Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte.” He goes a long way toward answering that question.

For the most part, The Magicians and Mrs. Quent is a well-plotted novel. Subplots clash with the main plot in a titanic display of irony. It is twisty and turny. There were a few moments in the book when I felt the author could have done a better job of setting up “chance” meetings or other rather convenient things, but this is the only plot gripe I have. And it’s a small one. (I did have a couple other gripes with the book, but they’re a bit more personal, so I’ll save those for the end.)

As for the writing, this book is witty and brilliant. The prose has a quaint quality reminiscent of the era and setting which the story’s world is modeled after. It has a rhythmic, almost musical feel, as if the entire book is a non-rhyming poem—a poem full of magic, mystery, and wonder. I’m a sucker for good writing. Clever writing most of all, and The Magicians and Mrs. Quent is full of that. Look at this quote from the first chapter:

All the same, there was something peculiar about the house on Whitward Street, just as there was something peculiar about the bookish habits of the eldest Miss Lockwell. Thus, while people regarded both of them well enough, people also tended to leave well enough alone.

With such poignant observations about the nature of people, it might come as no surprise that the characters in The Magicians and Mrs. Quent are vividly drawn. The image of Ivy Lockwell walking down Whitward Street reading a book or Mr. Rafferdy flashing that dashing grin become lifelike because the author has an astute understanding of human beings and what makes them, well, human. He also seems to know much about the relationships people have with one another, such as the relationship between Ivy and her two sisters. As the book-loving eldest daughter of three girls myself, I found myself grinning time and again at these scenes. These are characters I could not help but be drawn to. They became real to me.

I felt that The Magicians and Mrs. Quent lost some of its charm when it left the city of Invarel. In Invarel, there are all sorts of places for Ivy to go and people for her to run into. It makes for something new at every turn, while in Heathcrest, everything is much more static. I felt that it had a negative effect on that section’s story pacing. Another personal issue I had was that a certain subplot turned out quite the opposite of how I wanted. But there is to be a sequel, and I’m holding out hope that things will right themselves in the end.

Even if they don’t, The Magicians and Mrs. Quent is a book to read again and again—in fact, it’s my favorite book I’ve read this year, one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. Fans of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell will want to give it a try. It is a comedy of manners, a romance, a mystery, and a dazzling fantasy tale. If Jane Austen had been a fantasy writer, she would have written this book.

Debut Review – The Better Part of Darkness

Posted on by
11

BetterPartOfDarkness
The Better Part of Darkness
by Kelly Gay
Amazon USA – UK – Canada
Pocket Books – 7.99

First, some caveats. This isn’t my usual genre.The author knows this. I also have come to know the author over the past year of hosting her guests posts at my previous blog, Fantasy Debut, and swapping emails. So, I’m not entirely impartial. It’s difficult to write a review from this position, so I just thought I’d let you know up front. Hopefully, the one will balance the other.

Oh, and one more thing. I just finished the novel. Just now. I usually like to let things percolate for a day or so before attempting to write a review, but as I write this, release day is tomorrow so I’ll just do the best I can. So here it goes.


The Better Part of Darkness proves to me that I should read outside my genre more often.

I admit to having some trepidation when I started reading it, mostly because of this blurb:

Atlanta: it’s the promised city for the off-worlders, foreigners from the alternate dimensions of heaven-like Elysia and hell-like Charbydon. Some bring good works and miracles. And some bring unimaginable evil….

Charlie Madigan is a divorced mother of one, and a kick-ass cop trained to take down the toughest human and off-world criminals. She’s recently returned from the dead after a brutal attack, an unexplained revival that has left her plagued by ruthless nightmares and random outbursts of strength that make doing her job for Atlanta P.D.’s Integration Task Force even harder. Since the Revelation, the criminal element in Underground Atlanta has grown, leaving Charlie and her partner Hank to keep the chaos to a dull roar. But now an insidious new danger is descending on her city with terrifying speed, threatening innocent lives: a deadly, off-world narcotic known as ash. Charlie is determined to uncover the source of ash before it targets another victim — but can she protect those she loves from a force more powerful than heaven and hell combined?

I try not to let blurbs influence me too much when I review a book, but this one had me nervous. The Revelation? A force more powerful than heaven and hell combined? Is this one of those books that will wreak havoc on my Christian faith?

But it also had some things going for it. I didn’t see any evidence of vampires. The heroine-mom concept really appealed to me. And I was very curious about what Ms. Gay did with Atlanta Underground, which I’d love to see one day.

So in the end, I decided to trust Ms. Gay more than the blurb writer, and hope it really wasn’t all that accurate. And it wasn’t. I won’t give it all away, but the Revelation in The Better Part of Darkness does not refer to that Revelation, and the force more powerful than heaven and hell combined — well, maybe the blurb writer was just trying to be provocative.

Unless that part of the blurb referred to Charlie, herself.

What I enjoyed the most about this book was the way Ms. Gay blended humor with grittiness. I would not call this a humorous novel by any means, but has some much-needed light moments. And they are perfectly woven in. Even in the darkest of moments, some bit of levity manages to creep in, and often, it made me laugh out loud. Bravo for this. I hate novels that are nothing but angst from cover to cover.

Another thing I really enjoyed is that it felt more like a science fiction novel than a fantasy. The entrance to Charbydon and Elysia were discovered through scientific means. The drug, ash, is made in a lab. There is genetic manipulation between the beings of Charbydon, Elysia and Earth. And the beings of Charbydon and Elysia are neither demonic nor angelic. This near-perfect blend of science fiction and fantasy leads me to one of my few critiques — there is some ritual magic that must take place on “unconsecrated ground” toward the end that didn’t really fit in with the mood of the rest of the book. Science and magic are blended so well together that the whole idea of consecrated and unconsecrated ground didn’t feel relevant to me as a reader. Whose power was the ritual invoking? There didn’t seem to be any way to tap into powers by means of a ritual, because those doing the ritual pretty much had all the power. Other concepts are unexplained, such as a dying moon. How does a moon die? Losing its orbit? Disintegrating? It was never made clear.

Charlie, while capable of a wry wit, was not one of those annoying snarky heroines. She is very tough and kicks ass and uses foul language. But she loves fiercely and is protective to the point of smothering — except she won’t allow herself that. She has great relationships with those she loves, her sister Bryn, her daughter Emma and even her ex-husband, Will. Her partner, Hank, and her have some of the best dialog in the novel.

The pages just flew by. It’s almost 400 pages but I managed to finish most of it over the weekend. It segues nicely into a sequel, where I hope some of these questions get answered. I think urban fantasy fans will love The Better Part of Darkness, and fence-sitters who are tired of snark and vampires will find Ms. Gay’s concepts and twists unique and refreshing.

Debut Review – Slaves of the Shinar

Posted on by
11

SlavesOfTheShinar
Slaves of the Shinar (Amazon USA – UK – Canada)
by Justin Allen
Overlook Press
Hardcover – 25.95

Review copy provided by the author

Justin Allen’s second novel, Year of the Horse, just came out in October.

I remember hearing about Slaves of the Shinar back when I first started Fantasy Debut, and although I saw fine reviews for it everywhere, I did not read it at the time. Over the summer, the Justin Allen contacted me with a question and after an email conversation, he offered to send me a copy.

Slaves of the Shinar is billed as an epic fantasy of the ancient world. It’s hard to find a better blend of ingredients that are sure to hook me. It takes place in an unspecified location somewhere in Africa. There are two main characters, a black man named Urik  and a white man named Ander. Urik is trying to escape his destiny — literally. He is on the run from a prophesy, one that makes him a tragic and engaging character right from the start. And no, no, no, this is not the sort of prophesy you are thinking about. It’s a very personal prophesy — not one in which Urik fights a dark god or saves the world.

Ander is a slave of the Niphilim who is determined not only to escape, but to get revenge on his cruel captors. And he’s willing to use anyone to achieve this goal.

Both Ander and Urik are grown men. Stick a pin in me, why don’t you? A fantasy novel about grown men! It’s almost eek-worthy! (For those of you who are new here, I have long lamented about the over-abundance of young boys in fantasy novels.)

Anyway.

On his flight from destiny, Urik encounters a dog, which becomes his most faithful companion. He pulls off a daring theft early on in the story that reminded me me of Conan the Barbarian. The jewel he steals enables him to trade for a special sword — one made of iron rather than bronze.

For the Bronze Age is rapidly coming to an end. The Niphilim have the secret of steel (again, a Conan moment, but I want to be clear, it was for me, not Mr. Allen. He NEVER referred to it that way, and it was actually  iron, not steel) and they are using it to conquer the  Shinar. They are white, but are also referred to as giant-like. One of the reasons Urik stands out is because is is as big as a Niphilim. Those of you who are conversant in The Bible will recognize the term niphilim. The Nephilim were descendants of fallen angels. There is no indication in Slaves of the Shinar of any angelic origin. The resemble the Biblical Nephilim in their name, their stature and their superhuman strength. The religion in this novel are gods and goddesses — some of them with recognizable names, like Baal — and they don’t have any direct influence on the characters’ lives.

The Niphilim and another tribe simply referred to as the savages are the only outright fantasy elements in this novel. I’m not really sure what the savages are, but it is clear that they aren’t entirely human. Perhaps they are Australopithecines, but Mr. Allen doesn’t say. Whatever they are, they are terrifying and pity-inspiring all at once because the Niphilim use them as shock troops, driving them into battle with whips.

A great deal of this novel is about battles. Ander proves to be a charasmatic leader, and after helping a town unsuccessfully fight the Niphilim, he recruits a couple of priests to help him form an army. Ander and Urik never actually meet, and if they did, they probably wouldn’t like each other. But they are both ultimately after the same goal.

I just have a few critiques. For Ander’s scenes, the point-of-view was almost someone other than himself. This allowed the reader to see him from the viewpoint of other people, but it did mean that the point-of-view switched often. When there is one point-of-view per scene, this is fine, and for the most part, Mr. Allen kept us high and tight inside one person’s head. But there were several scenes where the point-of-view roved about confusingly, and in one scene between Urik and a woman he rescued, Adah, the point-of-view switches from sentence to sentence. However, this didn’t happen very often.

This is a brutal novel, but I was not overwhelmed by blood and gore. There is no sex and only a hint of romance. I found the quality of writing literary, yet the pacing equal to more commercial fiction. Most of the major characters are men, but Mr. Allen makes up for this by making the major villain an absolutely kick-ass Niphilim woman, and we even get to spend some time in her head. Adah comes into the mix rather late in the novel, but I liked her a great deal. My favorite character was Urik and the scene where he meets his destiny was especially heart-wrenching.

In an epilogue, Mr. Allen attempts to tie some of the characters to The Bible and a Babylonian epic poem, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, which I am certainly now going to reread. I’m not sure if Mr. Allen was entirely successful, for it made me think that there is a sequel to come, and perhaps, one day, there will be.

Slaves of the Shinar is a keeper for the reread shelf. If you like blends of ancient history and fantasy, this is something you are going to enjoy. I can recommend it highly.