Fire and Thorns

Rae Carson

Fire and Thorns, book 1

Gollancz (2011)

ISBN: 9780575099142

Reviewed by Stephanie Gunn

Fire and Thorns (released as The Girl of Fire and Thorns in the United States) is the first book in the YA Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson, and is Carson’s debut novel.

One individual in every century is chosen at their baptism by God, a beam of light descending from above to indicate that a Godstone has been lodged in their navel. The Godstone is a living jewel which remains part of their body, only detaching at the bearer’s death. It indicates that the bearer has been chosen by God for greatness, and is required to perform an act of service during their lifetime. None know what this act is, and most of the bearers die young, many apparently without accomplishing their destiny.

The Traitor’s Gate

Sarah Silverwood

Nowhere Chronicles, Book 2

ISBN:  978-0-575-09580-9

Gollancz

Reviewed by Lorraine Cormack

The Traitor’s Gate is book two of the Nowhere Chronicles, following on from The Double-Edged Sword. Like the first, this is an outstanding young adult novel which deserves a wide audience, including of older readers.

In volume one, Finmere Tingewick Smith – Fin to his friends – discovered that there are doors between worlds, including the Somewhere (our world) and the Nowhere. The orphaned Fin is not sure of his origins – no one is – but it becomes clear that he is critical to the survival of both worlds. Much intrigue and action followed.

In volume two, the story picks up some months later. Although Fin and his friends thought they had, perhaps, saved the worlds and fulfilled the Prophecy, there are ominous signs of trouble. The Story Holder has not yet been able to reclaim all of the Five Eternal Stories that hold the worlds together. In the Nowhere, something is wandering the streets, attacking people and leaving them mad and dangerous. And in the Somewhere, a crack has appeared in the Prophecy table.

Bitterblue

Kristin Cashore

Graceling, book 3

Gollancz (May 2012)

ISBN: 9780575097186

Reviewed by Tehani Wessely

Taking up a number of years after the events of Graceling, Bitterblue follows the passage of the title character, Queen Bitterblue, as she learns how to heal her broken country. Readers of the series will remember Bitterblue from the story told in Graceling, and the events that occurred some decades earlier in the “sequel/prequel” Fire are also important to the story told here. That said, Bitterblue is one of that most rare of fantasy novels that can stand in isolation, despite being a significant part of an overarching story.

The Islanders

Christopher Priest

Gollancz

ISBN: 9780575070042

Reviewed by Alexandra Pierce

1. Read the introduction.

No, really. Even if you’re an “I never read the introduction” kinda person, read this introduction. It’s part of the story, and without it you are likely to be terrible confused, because…

2. Don’t think this is a novel.

At least, not in the conventional, linear (or even non-linear) plot sense. Things happen, but not in any sort of chronological order. This is, as the introduction suggests, more of a gazette: an introduction to a few dozen of the islands which make up the Dream Archipelago. It’s a mixture of straight Lonely Planet-style description and suggestions for tourists, along with police investigations, letters, wills, and a couple of short story narratives that appear to have snuck in under the radar.

The Clockwork Rocket

Greg Egan

Orthogonal trilogy, book 1

Gollancz

ISBN: 9780575095113

Reviewed by Alexandra Pierce

One thing must be noted about Greg Egan’s fiction in general, and this book in particular. He, and it, are uncompromising. In reading it the audience must be one of two things: able and willing to understand complex physics, or willing to accept that they do not understand those physics and carry on with the story regardless. If you are not in either of those two camps, The Clockwork Rocket is most definitely not for you and Egan makes no apology for that. This is a book that comes with diagrams. (For reference, I fall into the second camp. It’s a long time since I did any physics seriously.)

This is a story set in a universe different from ours in one very crucial aspect: the speed of light is not a constant. In many respects, this book (the first of a trilogy) represents the working out of the consequences inherent in that seemingly simple fact – to the point where a large chunk of the book is actually just that: a physics student exploring the ramifications of observed phenomena on the possibilities of time and space. However, were this novel merely an amusing exercise for the physics lover, I would not have persevered. Along with the physics, Egan has incorporated some rather profound discussion of gender and reproduction, all within a quite compelling story about saving the world.

Psy-changling

Mine to Possess (Psy-Changling #4)

ISBN: 9780 575 10000 8

Hostage to Pleasure (Psy-Changling #5)

ISBN: 9780 575 10003 9

Kiss of Snow (Psy-Changling #10)

ISBN: 9780 575 10568 3

Nalini Singh

Gollancz

Reviewed by Helen Merrick

Nalini Singh’s best-selling Psy-Changling series is now up to its tenth book, with no sign of ending soon. Obviously Singh has legions of fans who eat up her successful formula of paramornal romance, spiced up by a bit of crime, suspense and a hefty dose of fairly explicit sex. The Psy-Changling books now have an established pattern, with each novel centred on the coming together of an unlikely couple who, despite challenges and obstacles end up in each others arms (and much more) by the finish. Along the way, each book further develops the broader plotline which occurs in an alternate world where alongside humans live two powerful races – the Psy and the Changlings. The Psy are, not surprisingly, a race with psy powers such as telepathy and telekensis, who dominate the world’s economic and political systems. They are also supposedly without emotion, a condition known as ‘Silence’ which was self-induced a century ago to prevent the increasing damage done by mentally unstable Psy. The Changlings are a very different race, part human and part animal who morph into their animal form at will and carry the heightened strength and senses of their animals while in human form. The key changling groups in the series are the Dark River Leopard pack, who effectively run San Fransisco, and the Snowdancer wolf pack, with whom they form an alliance as the threat from the Psy grows stronger.

Retribution Falls

Chris Wooding

Tales of the Ketty Jay, book 1

Gollancz

ISBN: 9780575085152

Reviewed by Alexandra Pierce

I read about the first 150 pages of this 373-page novel properly. I mostly read about the next 100 or so, then skimmed the final 100-odd in case something interesting happened. It didn’t.

The setting is a world where dirigibles are kept up thanks to some element or compound called aerium and electricity is available but by no means universally accepted. The story seems to be entirely set within an enormous mountain range with lots of convenient valleys and hidey-holes for freebooters such as the main characters, with little suggestion of what else what might make up the world (they do visit an icy waste, but it wasn’t clear to me how this worked with the rest of the geography).

Songs of the Earth

Elspeth Cooper

The Wild Hunt, Book 1

Gollancz (2011)

ISBN: 978-0-575-09615-8

Reviewed by Tehani Wessely

Gair has struggled with the music he hears for more than half his life. To hear the song is a death sentence, and when he is discovered, he spends three months under torture before being miraculously spared, exiled from the place he calls home. The stranger Alderan takes him under his wing, rescuing him from those who would hunt him down and taking him far from his pursuers. Now in a place where the song is not forbidden, Gair discovers his talents are more than he imagined, and this new place offers so much more for his unique skills. He finds friendship, love, and a home. But when all that is threatened, can Gair survive what is to come?

While this book is perfectly readable, I struggled a bit with it. For me, it just seemed a bit generic, with nothing truly fresh or challenging about it in terms of the fantasy world and structure. Gair is one of those characters who does everything excellently, with very little effort, to the point where it doesn’t even make sense some of the time (I couldn’t fathom how he had perfected and practised shape changing when in the religious cloister…). He’s quite likeable, but the most interesting characters where the peripheral ones. Masen, the Guardian, Tanith, the Healer, and the sea-elfs, were much more intriguing. Elderly Ansel, leader of the Knights, Sorchal and Arlin, who Gair spars with, and even Aysha, who seems a little mad, all contributed in small parts to the narrative but were much more engaging than Gair himself. It’s difficult to say if any of them will play larger roles in books that follow Songs of the Earth; I really hope they do.

Dead Reckoning

Charlaine Harris

A Sookie Stackhouse novel (12)

Gollancz (2011)

ISBN: 978 0 575 09653 0

Reviewed by Tehani Wessely

Mindreading human (sort of) Sookie Stackhouse is a magnet for trouble of the supernatural kind. Not only is her boyfriend a vampire, but she has all sorts of shapeshifters, fairies and other magical creatures harassing her regularly. It’s not just the supes though, because Sookie’s made some human enemies along the way as well, which never helps. This time, the action gets started when Sookie’s workplace, the bar of shapeshifter Sam Merlotte, is firebombed. Sookie mostly escapes injury, although that doesn’t stop vampire Eric Northam from insisting she get looked at by a hairdresser – yes, you read that right – providing a convenient introduction to the main story, involving Eric and his ‘child’ Pam. The book then lurches from plot point to plot point, labouring along without any real engagement of character or story before ‘climaxing’ in the hurried and open-ended sort of way that has become the norm for this series.

If I sound a little cynical about the storyline of Dead Reckoning, that’s because I am. This series has undergone a revival in popularity thanks to the HBO television series adaption True Blood but unfortunately, it feels like Harris really should have wound it up by now. The books are quite long but very little forward momentum has been achieved in the past several novels. Sookie seems stagnant, and while Harris continues to throw new roadblocks in her path to happiness, there is little resolution of any kind, which makes the books seem kind of pointless.

Twice Bitten

Chloe Neill

Chicagoland Vampires

Gollancz

ISBN: 978-0-575-09937-1

Reviewed by Lorraine Cormack

Twice Bitten is the third in the Chicagoland vampire series – the second, Friday Night Bites is reviewed here. Twice Bitten is in very much the same mould as its’ predecessor, sharing its characteristics, and particularly its weaknesses.

Shapeshifters from across America are convening in Chicago to decide whether or not to retreat to their Alaskan stronghold. Their decision is of critical interest to vampires; if they choose to retreat they are essentially abandoning vampires to whatever humans decide to do – and the signs are ominous; bad times may be coming for vampires. If the shifters decide to stay, they may provide some protection and support for their supernatural colleagues. Given the intense interest of vampires in the outcome of the Convocation, Master Vampire Ethan Sullivan has offered Merit, the Sentinel of his House, as bodyguard to Gabriel Keene, the Alpha shapeshifter.