Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear – A Companion to Wolves

Rising fantasy stars Monette (Mélusine) and Bear (Whiskey & Water) subvert the telepathic animal companion subgenre so thoroughly that it may never be the same. The inhabitants of a cold and perilous world grounded in Norse/Germanic mythology depend upon the brutally violent wolfcarls, men who bond telepathicallywith huge fighting trellwolves, to protect them from monstrous trolls and wyverns from further north. When the northern threat suddenly intensifies, Isolfr, a young wolfcarl, and his wolf-sister, Viradechtis, a Queen wolf destined to rule her own pack, are thrust into key roles in their civilization’s desperate fight to survive.

Looking at the amazon synopsis of A Companion to Wolves, I can pretty much admit that the primary reason for me to pick up this book was my recently-found love and adoration for Sarah Monette’s work. I didn’t really have too high expectations when I started to read this book, because I’m personally not a great fan of collaborations and then was waiting for the next Labyrinthine book, pretty sure that this one wouldn’t be as heavy on the LGBT side as Monette’s other works.

Well, damn. I was wrong.

And luckily so. In retrospect I think that A Companion to Wolves has been one of the best books I’ve read this year and has quickly become one of my all-time favorites. With a little more than 300 pages this is a short, but plot- and character-packed standalone (though I really wouldn’t mind a sequel in general ) that pretty much stands our common animal-companion fantasy perception on its head.

The outcome of what Elizabeth Bear says on her website was originally planned as a satirical novella is a harsh and beautiful book about loyalty and honor and for everyone who knows Sarah Monette’s Labyrinthine books certainly will recognize the intricacy with which the authors deal with sexuality and character relationships.

I daresay A Companion to Wolves probably isn’t for everyone as it’s very explicit in terms of content and generally brings up some issues that will probably put off anyone who expects this book to be a light, entertaining read. It definitely raises some questions about issues more traditional fantasy just doesn’t deal with and that is exactly what makes this book so intriguing along with both authors’ talent in creating a fast-paced plot propelled by the compelling relationships of its characters – human and nonhuman alike.

Even though the book is definitely a standalone, whether Bear and Monette plan to work on a sequel remains to be seen. I’ll keep my eyes open, because the sad thing about short books like A Companion to Wolves is that they’re over much too soon and leave you wanting for more

Kate Elliott – Kings Dragon

The Kingdom of Wendar is beset by civil war between brother and sister for the throne, by two hostile nonhuman races, by ghosts roaming the streets, and by enough other plots and counterplots to fuel the average Balkan war. Key to successfully resolving the overly fraught situation are Alain, a young prophet who needs to learn his parentage before he can act safely, and Liath, a lifelong fugitive sheltered by her father from worldly knowledge that she must acquire before she can act.

Okay, let me tell you this: excessive worldbuilding really isn’t one of my personal favorite things in fantasy. That might explain why it took me a while to warm up to Elliott’s style. Everything starts out as your standard epic fantasy archetype: We have a country at war with a mysterious, non-human race, while said country also is at the brink of a succession war on the inside. The main characters are stereotypes at first, but they soon turn into more. That and tons of religious background, but doubtlessly great worldbuilding make for a little bit of a slow start and it made me realize how long it’s been since I started reading The Wheel of Time & Co. since I’ve been a little ‘out’ of epic fantasy on the big scale.

Again, before I get all the Elliott fans ranting and raving at my utterly deluded judgement – this is just a personal thing. I’m not much of the worldbuilding type, but more of a plot- and character-oriented reader so what gets me hooked is an intriguing character and there my loves, I damn-well can’t complain!

I didn’t really care for Liath’s character much in the beginning, but by the time she meets certain other characters I loved her sections. Alain starts out as your typical ‘good, naive village boy’ character, but he undergoes some changes and gains some nifty abilities that make me want to read more. Oh and did I mention that I’m totally looking forward to getting to see more of Sanglant in the sequel, Prince of Dogs? Yeah, in the end I got hooked and intrigued and wanting for more – so guess where I’m stopping by to pick up at least the second one of this seven-volume series? You got it – Nym’s getting another book-fix today

I guess I’m sort of finding my way back into epic fantasy, even though I have to admit I’m skipping some of the all too excessive worldbuilding to get things going.  Does that tell you anything about my writing style? You bet.

David Gemmell – Waylander

All of Waylander’s instincts had screamed at him to spurn the contract from Kaem the cruel, the killer of nations. But he had ignored them. He had made his kill. And even as he went to collect his gold, he knew that he had been betrayed.
Now the Dark Brotherhood and the hounds of chaos were hunting him, even as Kaem’s armies waged war on the Drenai lands, intent on killing every man, woman, and child. The Drenai soldiers were doomed to ultimate defeat, and chaos would soon reign.
Then a strange old man told Waylander that the only way to turn the tide of battle would be for Waylander himself to retrieve the legendary Armor of Bronze from its hiding place deep within a shadow-haunted land. He would be hunted. He was certain to fail. But he must try, the old man commanded–commanded in the name of his son, the king, who had been slain by an assassin…
Waylander was the most unlikely of heroes–for he was a traitor, the Slayer who had killed the king…

Wow, I actually liked this a great deal more than I thought on first impression. Yes, I seem to go through books like candy lately, one a day or so, especially if they’re fast-paced like this one was – which gets me to write a bunch of reviews lately, basically helping me to keep track of what I read and not forget to post a few lines here.

Anyway, I’ve been planning on getting into David Gemmell’s work for quite a while now, but somehow I wanted to start with something shorter that can be read as a standalone – I also have his Parmenion books (Lion of Macedon and Dark Prince), but for now I wanted something different so I picked up Waylander on a whim, after the manifold recommendations from two people whose opinion in books I’m holding in quite high esteem I certainly wasn’t disappointed, when I picked up Waylander this morning.

What begins as your stereotypical fantasy-setting – country on the brink of war, well actually quite in the thick of it, characters make a rather unlikely alliance and set out for a quest to retrieve magical(?) item of awesome – pulls you into a fast-moving fantasy tale, rich in plot and character-depth. Oh and let’s not forget sarcastic and utterly hilarious lines like Waylander talking to the ‘priest’ Dardalion:

“Your kind likes to suffer – it makes them holy.”

or:

“Go away, I want to die alone.”

Since I’m a newbie to Gemmell’s books, I daresay that Waylander, though part of the Drenai series, can very well be read as a standalone and serves as a great introduction in Gemell’s unique, often sarcastic and character- as well as dialog-driven style.

Waylander is one of those darker, but awesome fantasy books whose premise reminds me a little of Stephen King’s Gunslinger, while I’d say that Gemmell definitely portrays the loner Waylander in a less abstract and more comprehensible way. I remember a friend talking about his character being “kinda…uh…neutral?” and I guess that pretty much sums him up. Yes, we have our standard assassin here who ruthlessly kills for money and he doesn’t really have qualms about it until it’s already too late, but nevertheless he’s that sort of character that just keeps you reading, because you want to find out more about them.

As far as I know there are at least two more books in the Drenai series that feature Waylander and I’ll be sure to pick them up next time when I go to the bookstore, because I definitely want more of this now

Naomi Novik – His Majesty’s Dragon

In this delightful first novel, the opening salvo of a trilogy, Novik seamlessly blends fantasy into the history of the Napoleonic wars. Here be dragons, beasts that can speak and reason, bred for strength and speed and used for aerial support in battle. Each nation has its own breeds, but none are so jealously guarded as the mysterious dragons of China. Veteran Capt. Will Laurence of the British Navy is therefore taken aback after his crew captures an egg from a French ship and it hatches a Chinese dragon, which Laurence names Temeraire. When Temeraire bonds with the captain, the two leave the navy to sign on with His Majesty’s sadly understaffed Aerial Corps, which takes on the French in sprawling, detailed battles that Novik renders with admirable attention to 19th-century military tactics. Though the dragons they encounter are often more fully fleshed-out than the stereotypical human characters, the author’s palpable love for her subject and a story rich with international, interpersonal and internal struggles more than compensate.

Okay, so why does this book makes me think of Jane Austen meets Eragon? Well, I suggest you read this book and find out. But honestly, since I’m anything, but a fan of Eragon, I probably just insulted the book by comparing the two

I haven’t read any books featuring dragons as main characters in a while and have been a bit more focused on the darker, grittier fantasy novels, but honestly, this one was fun. His Majesty’s Dragon is definitely one of those light, entertaining reads and Novik could definitely do a bit more in terms of in-depth-characterization, but overall I enjoyed it.

What initially intrigued me was her ‘what if?’-premise, introducing dragons and the Aerial Corps in connection with the Napoleon wars. It definitely is a fresh idea, deviating from the more traditional ideas of the Dragonriders of Pern or the Eragon series. This is where I really liked her approach of making Temeraire into a very human character who is quite different from your standard heroic and monstrous war-dragon etc.

Another thing that I liked was how Novik’s writing style does remind me a little bit of Jane Austen, especially as far as her dialog is concerned. Her characters definitely speak in style with the 19th century which makes the book and its characters so much more authentic and believable.

Despite the fact that the main character Will Laurence is quite obviously an adult, I’d definitely say that the border between adult fantasy and young adult fiction is a bit blurry here. The Temeraire series probably falls into the same category as Harry Potter et alia, being recommendable for a young adult as well as an adult audience. Right now I have the next three books, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War and Empire of Ivory sitting on my shelf to be read. His Majesty’s Dragon definitely is one of those first books that introduce you to a world and characters that only wait to be explored in further detail.

Paul Kearney – This Forsaken Earth

Okay, just a couple things here as a sort-of quick review:

The plot carries on right where The Mark of Ran left off. Kearney definitely keeps up his breakneck-pacing and you read this book within a day. Yes, 317 pages and a fast-moving plot do that. If I regret one thing now, it is that it’s over and that I don’t know when book three will be published. Let’s hope Paul Kearney gets his attorneys moving on getting the publishing rights out of Bantam’s grip fast

There are definitely some intriguing things happening in this second installment of The Sea Beggars. More of Rol’s past is revealed, some new characters are introduced and old ones return – yes, we see Rowen again too, though that one will turn out rather interesting and I honestly wouldn’t have expected what Kearney did there. Not giving anything away of course.

To put it in a nutshell, This Forsaken Earth definitely makes you want to read more. Let’s hope things get moving again for this fast-paced and intriguing series

Carol Berg – Rai Kirah trilogy

Seyonne was not always a slave. Once a Warden against demons, he is enslaved after the conquest of his homeland and eventually sold to Aleksander, the Derzhi prince who will turn out to be much more than his outward haughtiness and temper tantrums (which are in fact quite amusing :p). All in all this is more or less an adaption of Alexander the Great, mixed with some interesting magic and like I said in a post before; this time he’s not gay (though he and Seyonne might have made a funny pair :p ) but possessed by a demon. I really need to read David Gemmell’s Lion of Macedon and Dark Prince soon to compare the two.

As for Carol Berg’s books, they’re a good, entertaining read, even though her characters undergo occassional Mary Sue moments, but then again I enjoyed Seyonne and ‘Zander’s story even though Seyonne’s people are horrendously illogical and religious fanatics to boot – which again was rather amusing.

The writing and plot certainly has its flaws, especially in regards to some things merely being hinted when Berg could have followed through with the story in a little more direct way. That and the fact that sometimes solutions seem to fall from the sky itself are the books’ greatest flaws.

I guess I’m sort of spoiled by Abercrombie, Monette and their likes, but I personally prefer a little bit of a bolder writing style. That said, I still enjoyed the story, but book three was definitely the best of the trilogy. Given that Transformation was her debut novel, I daresay Carol Berg has found her pace and style in the third installment of the Rai Kirah trilogy that surpasses the previous two not only as far as the plot and characters are concerned, but she also manages to bring the trilogy to an altogether satisfying ending. I’d have done some things differently, but then again, hey it’s not  my book, is it?

I might check out her duology (Flesh and Spirit, Breath and Bone) at some time, but for now I’m working on plowing further through my TBR pile. Yay for progress

Joe Abercrombie – Last Argument of Kings

Alright, so everything is going to shit. Excuse my French, but that pretty much puts the synopsis of Joe Abercrombie’s Last Argument of Kings in a nutshell.

Final book of the First Law trilogy, Midderland is at war with the Northmen and the Gurkish, Glokta, Jezal and Logen are right in the middle of it. I’m pointedly leaving out any further plot summary here, because in the end it wouldn’t do anything but spoil it.

Say one thing about Last Argument of Kings, say that it’s a damn good ending for a damn good trilogy. Honestly, I second what everyone else told me by saying Gods, what a depressing ending. But still, it’s awesome! I don’t think I’ve read anything in a while whose ending was in any way comparable to what we get in Last Argument of Kings. In the end, Joe proves to be absolutely ruthless with his characters, but honestly, what do we expect? After all The First Law trilogy has been a rather unusual fantasy series altogether, but the ending tops what we’ve seen before. I don’t think I exaggerate when I’m saying that book three is definitely the best of the trilogy and more than delivers.

Oh and one more piece of advice, you might not want to read this book in a place where you have to be quiet. It’s one of those books that make you laugh and giggle rather hysterically

Awesome work

Lynn Flewelling’s Tamir Triad

Like many others, I too am one of those people who gets to like an author, gets all of their books and goes through them until done. Same here. After a rather random recommendation, I picked up Luck in the Shadows and totally fell in love with Lynn Flewelling’s Nightrunner series (yay for Seregil and Alec ). After having read the first three Nightrunner books, I picked up her Tamir Triad as well, because Shadows Return wasn’t out yet and a friend recommended them to me because the general premise sounded really intriguing (see my quick review on The Bone Doll’s Twin)

It’s interesting to compare the Tamir trilogy with the Nightrunner series. The most striking differences between the two are probably the pacing and the general mood of the books. Compared to her Nightrunner books, the Tamir triad sets a much slower pace, but then again its focus is centered more on Tobin/Tamir, one character and his coming of age and general background as opposed to two already grown up characters. In Nightrunner, both Seregil and Alec are basically ‘grown up’. Alec is dragged into Seregil’s ambiguous life as foppish noble by day and the Rhiminee Cat by night. Here the premise and the character development itself sets a faster pace, while Tobin/Tamir’s character is basically built up from early childhood as a boy, through his teenage years until ‘he’ finally becomes ’she’ and lives up to her destiny.

On the mood: The Tamir triad is one of those dark, slightly creepy and disturbing and utterly morally ambiguous series and I think that is – besides Lynn’s amazing characters – probably the thing I enjoyed most about the books. At first, we have our – let me be polemic here – ‘traditional’ black vs. white fantasy setting. Usurper king has taken the throne from his half-sister, thus broke with prophecy that land shall be ruled by a female descendant of the royal line, thus plunges land into chaos and secures his reign by killing off any female heirs who could potentially endanger his claim. So far, nothing really new. We have the bad guys and the good guys who want to restore order and prosperity by helping a newborn girl to fulfill her destiny as the rightful queen. Easy and predictable, right?

Well, not quite. Because what happens if the ‘good guys’ start using dark magic and kill innocents to achieve that goal? And in the process they kill the little princess’ brother, make her live most of her life in the wrong gender, haunted by the ghost of a vengeful demonic brother, unloved by a mother who totally drifts off to madness. Makes you wonder if that’s still the ‘good’ guys we’re talking about, right? Which again raises the question if the ends really justify the means, which pretty much is a central question of the series.

Then again, the bad guys have their moments of awesomeness as well and you almost find yourself liking/pitying some of them, because in the end there’s much of a gray-zone that some of them fall in (and for once I was happy that a particular one of them didn’t get killed off )

All in all, I still liked the Nightrunner books better, but I loved all the parallels that Lynn played with in the Tamir books that are set about five hundred years in the past of Nightrunner. Loved how some familiar characters showed up and you get to see some Aurenfaie and how Rhimineee was founded

Again, the Tamir books are character based (Brother and Ki rocked, but I also really liked Arkoniel’s character as well as Eyoli and Caliel ). Like I said before, I’d probably read the Nightrunner books first, especially to get the ‘bowl’ reference etc. but you can read them in any order. I definitely recommend and am still sad that I’ll have to wait till next summer until Nightrunner book 5, The White Road comes out.

Sarah Monette – The Mirador

Within the walled city of Mélusine, destabilized by unsolved murders and the lack of a legitimate royal heir, stands the fortress known as the Mirador, from which wizards strive to consolidate and increase their power. Felix Harrowgate, the Mirador’s most powerful wizard, and his half-brother, former assassin Mildmay the Fox, find themselves mired in new intrigues when Mildmay’s lover, the renowned actress Mehitabel Parr, becomes an unwilling spy for the rival wizards of the Bastion. Felix is further distracted by endless bickering with his partner, Gideon Thraxios, and trying to understand the implications of the backwards sky in the magical dreamworld of the Khloïdanikos. Mehitabel fears the destruction of her theatrical company, and the lowborn Mildmay struggles against the prejudice of wizards and lords.

This one was interesting. If you’ve kept an eye on my blog lately you might have read me raving about the awesomeness of Mélusine and The Virtu. Honestly, I’m really happy to have discovered another author of awesomeness on a whim (and after very helpful recommendations on westeros.org )

The Mirador is a little different there. First off, the pacing of the book is generally slower than its two predecessors, but actually that’s not too bad. Again, we have more internal and inter-personal conflicts than the more traditional ‘overall’ conflict (war, ursurper kings, take your pick). Before you ask, yes there overall conflicts like this in all three books, but they just don’t take up that much room as they usually would in a more conventional fantasy setting. What I like most about Monette’s work is her characters and their complex personalities.

One thing that I’m having mixed feelings about is the fact that Monette introduces Mehitabel as yet another first-person-POV besides Felix and Mildmay. Even though she is an interesting and intriguing character, I couldn’t help but notice how much Monette cuts back on Felix’ PoV. Sure, she doesn’t fail to convey his story through Mildmay and Mehitabel, still I’d have wanted more of the Felix sections.

In the end, the main plot revolves around the two brothers and the end of the book itself was pretty awesome and gives a great opening for book four, Corambis which is due to come out on April 7th, 2009 and already I can’t wait for that particular story to be continued

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Just a brief midnight post telling everyone to read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It’s one of those books that doesn’t let you go for a while. Just check it out.