“The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern (Reviewed by Robert Thompson & Liviu Suciu)

Posted in Fantasy Literature on September 6th, 2011 by Admin
Official Erin Morgenstern Website
Order “The Night Circus” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
Read An Excerpt HERE
Watch the Book Trailer HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Erin Morgenstern studied theatre & studio art at Smith College. She is a writer and artist whose work is described as “fairy tales in one way or another.” The Night Circus is her first novel.
PLOT SUMMARY: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, “the Circus of Dreams”, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead…
CLASSIFICATION: From a literature standpoint, The Night Circus reminded me of a cross between Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Christopher Priest’s The Prestige, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, and Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish. At times however, The Night Circus feels more like a movie than a book, and in that regard I kept thinking of Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice In Wonderland) and Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch).
FORMAT/INFO: The Night Circus is 400 pages long divided over five titled Parts and chapters that are unnumbered, but titled and dated with the location included. Narration is in the third person—both limited and omniscient—via Celia Bowen, Marco Alisdair, the man in the grey suit, the Night Circus’ proprietor M. Chandresh Christophe Lefèvre, the clockmaker Herr Friedrick Thiessen; the Murray twins Widget & Poppet, the engineer Ethan Barris, the Burgess sisters Tara & Lainie, the fortune-teller Isobel, and the dreamer Bailey, etc. The book also features short interludes written in the second person. The Night Circus is a standalone novel.
September 13, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of The Night Circus via Doubleday. The UK edition (see below) will be published on September 15, 2011 via Harvill Secker.

ROBERT’S ANALYSIS: It’s not every day that a book receives the kind of publicity that Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus has enjoyed. This includes a 175,000 first printing through its US publisher, foreign rights sold in over twenty countries, and a movie deal with Summit Entertainment (The Twilight Saga, RED, Astro Boy, The Hurt Locker) scored several months before publication. Then again, it’s not every day that a book like The Night Circus comes along.

Erin Morgenstern’s debut is a special novel, offering readers a magical, one-of-a-kind reading experience. An experience that may vary depending on the person. For instance, some readers might find themselves enchanted by the turn of the century setting—the novel takes place between February 1873 and January 1903—with an enigmatic circus serving as the main attraction. For others, it could be the story, a non-linear narrative that cleverly begins where the novel ends, with a competition between two magicians, a love story that challenges fate, and a dreamer faced with life-altering decisions contained in between. In some cases, the novel’s cast of charming and mysterious characters—Prospero the Enchanter and his daughter Celia Bowen; the man in the grey suit and his student Marco Alisdair; M. Chandresh Christophe Lefèvre, proprietor of the Night Circus; the clockmaker Herr Friedrick Thiessen and the rêveurs; the Murray twins Widget & Poppet; the engineer Ethan W. Barris; the Burgess sisters Tara & Lainie; the fortune-teller Isobel; Mme. Ana Padva, a retired ballerina; the contortionist Tsukiko; the dreamer Bailey—might be the culprit. For yet others, it could be Erin Morgenstern’s accomplished writing and elegant prose:
“Stories have changed my dear boy. There are no more battles between good and evil, no monsters to slay, no maidens in need of rescue. Most maidens are perfectly capable of rescuing themselves in my experience, at least the ones worth something, in any case. There are no longer simple tales with quests and beasts and happy endings. The quests lack clarity of goal or path. The beasts take different forms and are difficult to recognize for what they are. And there are never really endings, happy or otherwise. Things keep going on, they overlap and blur, your story is part of your sister’s story is part of many other stories, and there is no telling where any of them may lead. Good and evil are a great deal more complex than a princess and a dragon, or a wolf and a scarlet-clad little girl. And is not the dragon the hero of his own story? Is not the wolf simply acting as a wolf should act. Though perhaps it is a singular wolf who goes to such lengths as to dress as a grandmother to toy with his prey.”
For me, it’s the sense of wonder I felt as I was reading The Night Circus. The same kind of feeling I had when I first read Alice In Wonderland or the Arabian Nights or Harry Potter. This sense of wonder is a combination of many factors including the author’s vivid imagination; a dreamlike ambiance that exists throughout the novel; characters who are full of magic, both real and symbolic like the Murray twins born at the very same time Le Cirque des Rêves first opened; and a story comprised of several mysterious subplots: the purpose of the contest, the relationship between the man in the grey suit and Hector Bowen, the bond between the Night Circus and its performers, how Bailey and the rêveurs fit in the picture, etc. Of course, of all the wonderful things that Erin Morgenstern manages to include in her novel—Midnight Dinners, a ship made of books sailing upon an ocean of ink—nothing is more captivating than the circus itself. With its black-and-white theme and astounding attractions—the Carousel, the Wishing Tree, the Labyrinth, the Stargazer, the Cloud Maze, Bedtime Stories, the Drawing Room, the Menagerie, the Ice Garden, the Hall of Mirrors, the Pool of Tears—the Night Circus is truly a “feast for the senses”:
“More than a carnival. More than a circus, really, like no circus anyone has ever seen. Not a single large tent but a multitude of tents, each with a particular exhibition. No elephants or clowns. No, something more refined than that. Nothing commonplace. This will be different, this will be an utterly unique experience, a feast for the senses. Theatrics sans theatre, an immersive entertainment. We will destroy the presumptions and preconceived notions of what a circus is and make it something else entirely, something new.”
“What it needs is style, panache. Ingenuity in its engineering and structure. To be infused with the mesmerizing, and perhaps a touch of mystery. Unusual yet beautiful. Provocative while remaining elegant.”
As amazing as The Night Circus is, especially for a debut, Erin Morgenstern’s novel is not perfect. For starters, characters lack depth and are unsympathetic because of the large cast and an omniscient/limited third-person narrative that prevents readers from becoming intimate with the novel’s characters. As a result, it’s hard to feel anything except indifference when a character dies, falls in love or is asked to make a difficult choice. At the same time, the story drags in certain places, while the novel’s climax and conclusion can feel a bit underwhelming.
Apart from these issues with the characterization and story, I have nothing but praise for Erin Morgenstern’s remarkable debut. Not only is The Night Circus one of the year’s best releases, ranking right up there with Félix J. Palma’s The Map of Time, it is a book that I highly recommend to anyone and everyone. After all, like attending an actual circus, The Night Circus is the kind of thing that every person should experience at least once in their lifetime…
LIVIU’S ANALYSIS: One of the more hyped novels I have heard of in recent times, The Night Circus came with very high expectations and I have to say that they were generally fulfilled and the hype mostly deserved, though there were several niggles I will talk about here too.

The Night Circus works magnificently at the prose level: lyrical, wonderful, descriptive, imaginative, the book is just a pleasure to read and imagine. The author writes superbly and the book never stops enchanting. If the style does not work for you, I doubt the book will work.

The storyline is not that complicated – there are some powerful magicians in existence, one disguising himself as a stage performer, another just being mysterious – and they have an ongoing rivalry for centuries now which they test once in a while when they each train a pupil and pit them in a strange contest involving magic and real life, contest that usually takes decades and ends with only one of the two pupils standing.

When the novel starts in 1873, Hector Bowen aka “Prospero the Magician” receives an unusual package from a “former fan” – his 5 year old daughter Celia, left in his care by his mother whom he had seduced and abandoned years ago; a bit annoyed, Hector – who like his mysterious opponent Alexander is not a very nice person, centuries of life and all – soon realizes that Celia has power too and he decides she will be the perfect tool to get back to Alexander whose pupil had won the last contest.

Alexander accepts and in turn collects Marco a 9 year old boy with the right personality/traits/etc from an orphanage and starts training him for the next 12 years or so.

And then in 1886 the contest starts in form of the Cirque de Reves, which Marco now the personal assistant/right hand of a wealthy eccentric patron of arts “builds” – it’s more complicated than that but that’s the idea – and Celia who is hired as illusionist, actually enhances and sustains with her magic while embedding it in reality.

In the process we meet a great number of characters, most of them quite fascinating, we visit a lot of places though usually the Cirque takes precedence to the locale and the novel twists and turns a few times too. The tension ratchets slowly but it reaches quite a high level and the ending is excellent though it is somewhat telegraphed earlier – I clearly saw it from a long way back as the main possibility of “solving” the contest.

Now the niggles mentioned: since the main characters get progressively stronger and become more than human in many ways, the author’s decision to keep them at an emotional remove from us and introduce a lot of supporting characters, some who take the center stage later, is warranted but it also lessens a little the book which at some point becomes “competing gods” and the puny mortals involved.

The main romance is both telegraphed and not that interesting and while again it was most likely needed for the structure and resolution of the book, I wish the author would have made other choices within the framework of her novel.

Marco and Celia start very interesting but become less so as their power increases though there is balance with the supporting characters who become more important. The real life grounding – while talked a lot about and in a way being the main point of the contest – starts strong, but then as the quantity of magic involved increases considerably, the grounding gets shakier.

All in all the prose, descriptions and supporting characters make The Night Circus a strong book and an A+ for me, but I wish the author would have made some other choices as the novel progressed, keeping the story and the circus mysterious to the end since that way I think the novel could have been a masterpiece.

Fantasy Book Critic

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The Collected Letters of Robert Southey, Part Two: 1798-1803

Posted in Romance Literature on August 29th, 2011 by Admin

We are pleased to announce the second part of an eight-part electronic edition of the Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Two is edited by Lynda Pratt and Ian Packer.

Robert Southey, as many of our readers know,  was one of the best-known, controversial and innovative writers in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain. Based upon extensive new archival research, this Collected edition makes available for the first time all his surviving letters, freshly edited, annotated and introduced.

Part One covers 1791-1797, turbulent years which saw the forging of Southey’s career and reputation, his involvement in radical politics, and the beginning of his friendships with Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Part Two, which covers 1798-1803, includes his public and private responses to Lyrical Ballads (1798); his reaction to the rise of Napoleon and the continuing conflict between Britain and revolutionary France; his second and final visit to Portugal and the resultant hardening of his anti-Catholicism; his unhappy stint as a secretary to the Irish Chancellor Isaac Corry, and his emotional bludgeoning by the deaths in relentless succession between 1801-1803 of three Margarets, his cousin, mother and first child. Part Two comprises 596 letters, of which 199 are published for the first time, and 107 are published in full for the first time. In addition, 5 letters that appeared pseudonymously in the Monthly Magazine are here newly attributed to Southey.

Romantic Circles Blog

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“Low Town” by Daniel Polansky (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Posted in Fantasy Literature on August 3rd, 2011 by Admin
Official Daniel Polansky Website
Order “Low Town” HERE + HERE
Read An Interview HERE
Watch the Book Trailer HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Daniel Polansky is from Baltimore, Maryland. Low Town is his first novel.
PLOT SUMMARY: In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its cham­pion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs. Every day is a constant hustle to find new customers and protect his turf from competition like the low-life Tancred the Harelip and Ling Chi, the dangerous crime lord of the heathens.
The Warden’s life of drugged iniquity is shaken by his dis­covery of a murdered child down a dead-end street . . . set­ting him on a collision course with the life he left behind. As a former agent with Black House—the secret police—he knows better than anyone that murder in Low Town is an everyday thing, the kind of crime that doesn’t get investi­gated. To protect his home, he will take part in a dangerous game of deception between underworld bosses and the psy­chotic head of Black House, but the truth is far darker than he imagines. In Low Town, no one can be trusted…
FORMAT/INFO: Low Town is 352 pages long divided over forty-nine numbered chapters. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via a thirty-five year old crime lord/drug dealer/junkie named the Warden. Low Town is self-contained, but is the first volume in a series. August 16, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of Low Town via Doubleday. The UK edition (see below) will be published by Hodder & Stoughton on August 18, 2011 under the title, The Straight Razor Cure.

ANALYSIS: Daniel Polansky’s Low Town is categorized as ‘noir fantasy’. What is noir fantasy? In my mind, it’s when Raymond Chandler & Dashiell Hammett meets the fantastic—magic, the supernatural, and so forth. Combining noir with fantasy is hardly a new concept. China Miéville’s The City & The City, Jeff VanderMeer’s Finch, Glen Cook’s Garrett P.I. series, Hellblazer, The Vampire Files by P.N. Elrod, Simon R. Green’s Nightside, Mike Carey’s Felix Castor novels, The Dresden Files, Alex Bledsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse series, Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim novels . . . these are just a few of the many examples to be found. As far as noir fantasy goes, Low Town doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, but Daniel Polansky’s debut is still one of the subgenre’s better efforts…

What impressed me the most about Low Town was the setting. Of the noir fantasy that I’ve read, the majority of them—urban fantasy novels in particular—take place in an alternate version of our world where magic and the paranormal are real. Not Low Town. Low Town is set in a fully realized secondary world complete with its own races and countries (Dren, Islanders, Kirens, Rouender, Asher, Tarasaihgn, Vaalan, Miradin, Nestria), currency (ochres, argents), gods and religion (Church of Prachetas, the Lost One, the Firstborn, Oathkeeper, the Daevas, Śakra), narcotics (pixie’s breath, dreamvine, wyrm, Daeva’s honey, ouroboros root), history, et cetera. The focus of this world is the city of Rigus with its different neighborhoods and districts including Kirentown, Kor’s Heights, and of course, Low Town itself.
Even though Daniel Polansky’s novel takes place in a fantasy world, it’s a familiar backdrop. That’s because the author draws inspiration from real people, cities and history. As a result, Rigus feels like a cross between 19th century London and some major American city (Los Angeles, New York City) from the 1930s/40s, while the Red Fever and the war with the Dren brought to mind the Great Plague and World War I. Also recognizable are the book’s depictions of social stratification, racism, crime, and police corruption & bureaucracy. In some instances, the author does little more than change a name—Kirens are Asians, Islanders are black people, dreamvine is marijuana—but even this small of an effort makes a difference. Personally, I felt the secondary world injected flavor into the novel’s noir elements, while the familiarity of the setting made it easier to become immersed in the world of Low Town.
Magic meanwhile, exists in the form of the Art, sorcerers (Crane the First Sorcerer of the Realm; Celia, Sorcerer First Rank; Brightfellow), scryers, the Crown’s Eye, wards to protect the city from the plague, and a gargoyle that guards the entrance to the Aerie. To be honest, between Crane, the Bureau of Magical Affairs and the Academy for the Furtherance of the Magical Arts, magic in Low Town reminded me a little bit of Harry Potter, which seemed at odds with the rest of the novel. To make matters worse, there’s not even that much magic in the book to begin with, and of the little magic that does show up, it’s either not explained or developed very well by the author, or it’s told about (the wards, using the Crown’s Eye) rather than shown.
Besides the setting, I also loved the tone of the book. A lot of authors have tried to emulate Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, but not everyone can pull it off. Daniel Polansky does so with ease, with the characters, story and milieu of Low Town all delightfully drenched in hard-boiled noir. In other words, Low Town is dark, gritty and morally ambivalent. Of course, the highlight is easily Warden with his grim history—survivor of the Fever, the streets and war; gave up a successful career in law enforcement to live a life of crime—and a riveting first-person narrative that reflects the protagonist’s sarcastic sense of humor, moral ambivalence, and cynical attitudes:
“Everything’s always clearer in hindsight. If I had the day to do over again, I would try to avoid getting my ass kicked.”
“People are fools. You don’t need a prophet to tell the future. Look at yesterday, then look at today. Tomorrow is likely to be the same, and the day after.”
“We went to war because going to war is fun, because there’s something in the human breast that trills at the thought, although perhaps not the reality, of murdering its fellows in vast numbers. Fighting a war ain’t fun—fighting a war is pretty miserable. But starting a war? Hell, starting a war is better than a night floating on Daeva’s honey.”
“I learned something back then, something about the nature of crime, and of the things people do that are meant to remain hidden. Solving a mystery isn’t about finding clues or getting lucky with a suspect—it’s about deciding what to look for, framing the narrative in your mind. If you can puzzle out the questions, the answers will come.”
The supporting cast includes some interesting morally gray characters including the bartender Adolphus, Wren the street urchin, Crane the First Sorcerer of the Realm, Celia, Warden’s ex-partner Crispin, the Smiling Blade, Crowley, the Old Man, Yancey the Rhymer, the Kiren crime lord Ling Chi, Mairi the Dark-Eyed, the scryer Marieke and Dr. Kendrick. Sadly, none of these characters are very well developed. Since Low Town is written in the first-person, this is not exactly a major surprise. Nevertheless, I wish the author had done more to flesh out Warden’s relationship & history with Crane, Celia and Crispin, especially considering their importance to the novel.
Plot-wise, Low Town features a murder mystery that forces Warden’s current life as a crime lord, drug dealer and junkie to collide with his former life as an agent and Special Ops of the Crown. Surprisingly, the murder mystery is not the novel’s main attraction. Instead, Warden’s history is the more compelling story line, which is revealed through various flashbacks—life on the streets after his parents died of the plague and his sister was killed; enlisting in the war at nineteen years old; participating in the secret mission that ended the war with the Dren Commonwealth—although the author leaves a few matters unanswered like why Warden left the Crown’s service in the first place or how he took over Low Town. The problem with Low Town’s central mystery—Who is kidnapping and murdering Low Town children, and why?—are obvious red herrings, spoiler-ish foreshadowing, and a surprise twist that is very easy to figure out. The ending is also somewhat disappointing due to its truncated resolution and unsettled issues.
CONCLUSION: Daniel Polansky’s Low Town is far from perfect. As noir fantasy, the book is fairly conventional, formulaic even. As a debut, Low Town is rough around the edges—supporting characters lack depth, magic is unoriginal and underdeveloped, and the story’s ending and central mystery fail to deliver. Yet, despite all of that, I loved Low Town. I loved the setting. I loved the characters. I loved the noir. And when the sequel is ready, I will love coming back to Low Town and continuing Warden’s tale…

Fantasy Book Critic

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“Prince of Thorns” by Mark Lawrence (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Posted in Fantasy Literature on July 20th, 2011 by Admin
Official Mark Lawrence Website
Order “Prince of Thorns” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
Read An Extract HERE
Read Interviews via Civiilin Reader, Fantasy Faction + Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Mark Lawrence is a research scientist working on artificial intelligence. He lives in England with his wife and four children. Prince of Thorns is his first novel.
PLOT SUMMARY: When he was nine years old, Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath saw his mother and younger brother murdered before his eyes. By thirteen, he commanded a band of bloodthirsty mercenaries. By the time he is fifteen, he intends to be king.
First though, Jorg must return to the life he turned his back on, to take what is rightfully his. Since the day he was hung on the thorns of a briar patch and forced to watch Count Renar’s men slaughter his mother and brother, Jorg has been driven by a burning need for vengeance. Life and death are no more than a game to him—and he has nothing left to lose.
But treachery and dark magic awaits him in his father’s castle. No matter how fierce, can the will of one young man conquer enemies with power beyond his imagining?
CLASSIFICATION: Prince of Thorns is R-rated epic fantasy that combines Robert E. Howard/Glen Cook-like sword-and-sorcery action with George R. R. Martin-inspired court intrigue and a revenge-driven plot that would make Joe Abercrombie proud. Because of a young protagonist whose accomplishments defy his age and abilities, and a fantasy world that seems to be a different version of Earth, I was also reminded of Paul Hoffman’s The Left Hand of God, while the novel’s dark tone and gritty atmosphere evoked thoughts of David Keck and Richard K. Morgan’s The Steel Remains…
FORMAT/INFO: Prince of Thorns is 336 pages long divided over forty-nine numbered chapters. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath. Prince of Thorns ends at a satisfying stopping point, but is the first volume in The Broken Empire trilogy. August 2, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of Prince of Thorns via Ace Books. The UK version (see below) will be published on August 4, 2011 via Harper Voyager. Cover art is provided by Jason Chan. More information, including a Map and a Cast of Characters, can be found at Mark Lawrence’s Official Website.

ANALYSIS: Neal Asher is an author whose opinion I admire and respect. So when he wrote on his blog that Mark Lawrence’s Prince of Thorns was “the best fantasy read I’ve had since Alan Campbell’s Scar Night”, the book immediately became added to my wishlist. After all, I read Scar Night because of Neal Asher’s recommendation, and since then, Alan Campbell has become one of my favorite fantasy authors. With Mark Lawrence, it’s too early to say whether or not the author will become a favorite of mine or not, but Prince of Thorns certainly left an impressive first impression.

Speaking of first impressions, Prince of Thorns had me worried initially because of a young protagonist who acts and performs feats that seem impossible for his years—the novel features Jorg at ages nine and fourteen. More troubling however, was the world of Prince of Thorns which is like an alternate version of Earth, or a post-apocalyptic future where civilization has evolved back to medievalism. Personally, I prefer fantasy that is as far removed from the real world as possible—there are exceptions, as long as the names are changed and a creative effort is made—so it was disappointing to see God, Jesus, the Devil, Euclid, Plato, Sun Tsu, Socrates, Aristotle, Robin Hood, Nietzsche, Gog/Magog, Hercules and Shakespeare all make appearances in a novel that I consider epic fantasy. Fortunately, compared to how much I enjoyed the rest of the book, the setting and Jorg’s young age are minor complaints.
Surprisingly, Prince of Thorns’ greatest asset is Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath himself. Jorg may be ruthless, immoral, and way too young to be accomplishing the things that he does in Prince of Thorns—requiring a strong suspension of disbelief—but he’s also incredibly fascinating. A tragic past, supporting characters that are even more ruthless than Jorg—King Olidan, Sageous, Corion, Rike, etc.—and contemporary fantasy novels that celebrate antiheroes (Monument, The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart, Malazan Book of the Fallen, ASOIAF, The Steel Remains, anything by Joe Abercrombie) all contribute to the prince’s appeal, but the main reason Jorg captured my sympathy is because of a compelling first-person narrative rife with revealing insights, interesting observations about his ‘brothers’, and amusing words of wisdom:
“The pain became my enemy. More than the Count Renar, more than my father’s bartering with lives he should have held more precious than crown, or glory, or Jesu on the cross. And, because in some hard core of me, in some stubborn trench of selfish refusal, I could not, even at ten years of age, surrender to anything or anyone. I fought that pain. I analysed its offensive, and found its lines of attack. It festered, like the corruption in a wound turned sour, drawing strength from me. I knew enough to know the remedy. Hot iron for infection, cauterize, burn, make it pure. I cut from myself all the weakness of care. The love for my dead, I put aside, secure in a casket, an object of study, a dry exhibit, no longer bleeding, cut loose, set free. The capacity for new love, I burned out. I watered it with acid until the ground lay barren and nothing there would sprout, no flower take root.”
“Most men have at least one redeeming feature. Finding one for Brother Rike requires a stretch. Is ‘big’ a redeeming feature?”
“War, my friends, is a thing of beauty. Those as says otherwise are losing.”
“You got responsibilities when you’re a leader. You got a responsibility not to kill too many of your men. Or who’re you going to lead?”
“Hangings, beheadings, impalement, oh my!”
“You soon learn there’s no elegance or dignity in death if you spend time in the castle kitchens. You learn how ugly it is, and how good it tastes.”
“On the road, shit has the decency to stink.”
Concise storytelling is the second best attribute in Prince of Thorns, with brisk pacing, short chapters and a slim page count highlights of the novel. Factor in a story that boils down to an age-old tale of bloody revenge, and it’s no surprise that Prince of Thorns is a remarkably fast and intense read, especially compared to most epic fantasy. Of course, there’s more to Prince of Thorns than simple vengeance. Well-timed flashbacks—the assassination of Jorg’s mother and brother, his recovery, meeting the Nuban and his ‘brothers’ for the first time, etc.—court intrigue that references GRRM’s A Song of Ice & Fire (“a sacrifice to the iron will I needed to win the game of thrones”), and dark magic all work together to flesh out the book’s content, while keeping readers on their toes. The novel’s ending is a bit predictable because of Jorg’s first-person POV and the nature of the book, but Prince of Thorns will leave readers hungering for more.
World-building may be sparse—Builders, the Day of a Thousand Suns, the Broken Empire—but this works to the novel’s advantage, keeping the page count lean, while providing a sense of mystery. This is also true with the characterization, which is minimal apart from Jorg, although the camaraderie between the prince and his ‘brothers’ is skillfully executed. Magic meanwhile, which includes lich, dream-witches, leucrota, an oracle, necromancers, etc., is not very original, but it does add various layers of danger and intrigue to the book.
CONCLUSION: In a year teeming with fantasy debuts—Among Thieves, Den of Thieves, Miserere: An Autumn Tale, Of Blood & Honey, Songs of the Earth, The Desert of Souls, The Unremembered, The Whitefire Crossing, The Winds of Khalakovo—Mark Lawrence’s Prince of Thorns is one of the year’s best thanks to a captivating antihero in Prince Jorg, Jorg’s compelling first-person narrative, and a story full of brutal sword-and-sorcery action, treacherous court intrigue, and cold-blooded revenge…

Fantasy Book Critic

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“Vortex” by Robert Charles Wilson (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Posted in Fantasy Literature on July 19th, 2011 by Admin

Official Robert Charles Wilson Website
Order Vortex HERE

INTRODUCTION: Robert Charles Wilson is an US born Canadian writer of speculative fiction who has built over the years an amazing body of work, winning many sff awards, including the 2006 Hugo award for the extraordinary novel Spin.

I have actually followed Mr. Wilson‘s career across the years, but Spin was such an astounding book that it became an instant classic for me and put R.C. Wilson on the list of authors I read everything on publication. Since Vortex is the final book in a loose trilogy that started with Spin and had Axis as a middle book, I will talk a little about its setup and recurring characters.

The main conceit of the series is that at some point in the near future, mysterious aliens called Hypotheticals surround Earth with a temporal bubble that vastly accelerates its time flow with respect to the rest of the universe, so in several decades subjective on Earth, billions of years pass outside the bubble and the Sun for example is spent, so only the Hypotheticals’ “magic” stands between humanity and extinction.

So upheavals galore on Earth – eg all satellites crash and all space based industry disappears overnight, but instead airships and mechanical devices instead of electronic ones take their place and a different industry is born to replace the lost one. But not all is gloom and doom since there are several bonuses – Mars is colonized and due to the time differential the civilization there advances millenniums while on Earth just weeks pass – of course the Hypotheticals shut off Mars with a similar barrier after a while but in between some cool Martian tech with far reaching implications reaches Earth, only of course to be subverted by the powers to be…

Later, a huge hyperspace portal appears in the Indian Ocean and offers access to a sequence of empty planets similar to Earth, of which the immediate neighbor called Equatoria is the setting for Axis.

But Spin is first and foremost a novel about three people and the complicated relationships between them and their friends, families and lovers and that made it a huge success more than the sfnal content which is cool but I have read before.

It is very hard to follow up on a masterpiece like Spin and Axis tried valiantly. While Axis continued the Spin timeline some decades later and a planet away and had a lot of great moments, it had one main flaw in that as a middle book it expanded the universe of the series but offered little resolution.

The other negative was the emotional disconnect since the characters from Spin are either dead or make cameo appearances, while the new characters introduced here, most notably Turk Findley and boy genius Isaac Dvali – or at least that’s the intention of his parents/creators since quite unethically they engineered Isaac to try and communicate with the Hypotheticals – do not have the time to fully get our emotional involvement until the cliffhanger climax of the novel. Still I loved Axis and found it a great read due the author’s superb narrative skills.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Vortex splits into distinct narratives that are related by a “message in a bottle” device – though in this case the message goes time-reverse – with the full import of everything revealed in a very satisfactory ending.

The protagonists of Axis – Turk Findley and Isaac Dvali – who at the end of that novel are englobed by Hypothetical constructs, go through a ‘Time Arch” and appear 10,000 year later when a local cult like polity, the Vox, founded precisely on the base of prophecies of future communion with the Hypotheticals when the resurrected – like Turk and Isaac appear- snatches them and starts a journey to fulfill its fate. Vox recreates a Spin time persona – Allison Pearl – grafted on top on one of their citizens, Freya, trained for birth as liaison with the upcoming resurrected – and the future tale of Turk, Allison/Freya and later Isaac is the main thread of the novel with explanations and all in the end.

Like the sfnal content of Spin and in the spirit of some of RC Wilson recent short fiction I have reviewed here, this a fairly standard sfnal far-future adventure with some surprises and which worked very well with an ending that was very emotional but appropriate. There is also one more narrative twist with the author masterfully switching pov’s in the end and that added a little extra too, but what gave Vortex “the extra” Axis missed, was the second story, a very human oriented one of a doctor, a policeman and a patient.

This other tale, back in the after Spin times, maybe a generation later, is superb since here we see RC Wilson at his best as both a storyteller and creator of unforgettable characters who are regular humans dealing with strange situations. This tale of psychiatrist Sandra Cole, policeman Bose and troubled youngster Orin Mather who has been writing a journal purposing to tell the future stories of Turk Findley and Allison Pearl in Vox, 10000 years ahead is awesome and a tour de force.

Vortex alternates between the two timelines and while I read Turk and Allison’s adventures with interest, they were a little distant as befits something set in the far future and a strange land; but the immediacy of Sandra, Bose and Orrin’s tale added the emotional ingredient that made Spin so memorable and made Vortex (A+/A++) a compelling read and a great series ending. Sf that combines far future sense of wonder with human interest and great characters does not come that often around and I strongly recommend not to miss it in Vortex!

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“The Goblin Corps” by Ari Marmell (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Posted in Fantasy Literature on July 13th, 2011 by Admin
Official Ari Marmell Website
Order “The Goblin Corps” HERE
Read FBC’s Review of “The Conqueror’s Shadow”
Read FBC’s Review of “The Warlord’s Legacy”
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Ari Marmell has a BA in Creative Writing at the University of Houston. He has worked for such role-playing games as Dungeons & Dragons and the World of Darkness, while written tie-in fiction for Vampire: the Masquerade and Magic: the Gathering. His first wholly original novel was The Conqueror’s Shadow, followed by the sequel, The Warlord’s Legacy. Forthcoming releases from Pyr include the YA novels, Thief’s Covenant and Witch Hunt.
PLOT SYNOPSIS: Morthûl, the dreaded Charnel King, has failed.
Centuries of plotting from the heart of the Iron Keep, deep within the dark lands of Kirol Syrreth—all for naught. Foiled at the last by the bumbling efforts of a laughable band of so-called heroes, brainless and over-muscled cretins without sense enough to recognize a hopeless cause when they take it on. Machinations developed over generations, schemes intended to deliver the world into the Dark Lord’s hands, now devastated beyond salvation. But the so-called forces of Light have paid for their meddling with the life of Princess Amalia, only child of the royal family of Shauntille.
Now, as winter solidifies its icy grip on the passes of the Brimstone Mountains, disturbing news has reached the court of Morthûl. King Dororam, enraged by the murder of his only child—and accompanied by that same group of delusional upstart “heroes”—is assembling all the Allied Kingdoms, fielding an army unlike any seen before. The armies of Kirol Syrreth muster to meet the attack that is sure to come as soon as the snows have melted from the mountain paths, but their numbers are sorely depleted. Still, after uncounted centuries of survival, the Dark Lord isn’t about to go down without a fight, particularly in battle against a mortal! No, the Charnel King still has a few tricks up his putrid and tattered sleeves, and the only thing that can defeat him now may just be the inhuman soldiers on whom he’s pinned his last hopes.
Welcome to the Goblin Corps. May the best man lose…
FORMAT/INFO: The Goblin Corps is 552 pages long divided over a Prologue, eleven numbered/titled chapters, and an Epilogue. Narration is in the third-person omniscient via numerous characters including the seven members of the Demon Squad, the Charnel King Morthûl, his lieutenant Vigo Havarren, Ananias DuMark, King Dororam, etc. The Goblin Corps works well as a standalone novel, coming to a satisfying stopping point, but there is room for a sequel. July 2011 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of The Goblin Corps via Pyr. Cover art is provided by Lucas Graciano.
ANALYSIS: Ari Marmell’s The Conqueror’s Shadow really took me by surprise when it came out in 2010, establishing itself as one of the year’s most entertaining fantasy novels. Unfortunately, the sequel—The Warlord’s Legacy—was a major disappointment. As a result, I was on the fence regarding the author’s new novel, The Goblin Corps, before I eventually decided to give the book a chance.
To my relief, The Goblin Corps possesses the same elements that made The Conqueror’s Shadow so much fun to read. This includes cleverly subverted fantasy tropes—villains who are more likeable than the heroes, a wolf-like troll, a war against the Dark Lord that doesn’t go quite as planned, etc.—comical David Eddings-like humor, and Joe Abercrombie’s kick-ass grittiness.
At the same time, The Goblin Corps offers a couple of improvements that makes the book even more rewarding and fun to read than The Conqueror’s Shadow. The first is Ari Marmell’s writing, which continues to show improvement, particularly the author’s prose:
“The threadbare layer of carpeting over the floor was worn as full of holes as an old sock, and whatever color it might once have boasted had long been trampled into an unassuming, colorless gray. A single chair, its cushion torn and hemorrhaging stuffing, its wooden frame bending beneath the years, sulked in the corner. The bed frame, in equal disrepair and clearly not on speaking terms with the chair, would have long since collapsed if it hadn’t been propped against the wall.”
Secondly, the author doesn’t pull any punches in The Goblin Corps. One complaint I had about The Conqueror’s Shadow was the odd clash of PG-13 sensibilities and R-rated violence. In The Goblin Corps, the Demon Squad freely curse—they are villains after all; violence is unrestrained and gruesomely explicit, venturing at times into disturbing and horrific territory; and the body count is deliciously high, even including some of the main characters. In short, apart from the novel’s PG-13 humor, The Goblin Corps embraces its dark side—and thrives because of it.
Plot-wise, The Goblin Corps revolves around a new Demon Squad assembled to serve King Morthûl in preparation for the upcoming war against the Allied Kingdoms. This new Demon Squad includes Cræosh, an orc warrior; the bugbear Jhurpess; Gork, a kobold who specializes in pickpocketing; T’chakatimlamitilnog—“Katim” for short—a troll from the House of Ru; a gremlin named Gimmol Phicereune; the doppleganger Omb Fezeill; Belrotha, an ogre and governess of Itho; and Shreckt, a 20-inch tall gargoyle who acts as the squad’s drill sergeant.
Experiencing the Squad’s interactions with one another based on their physical/racial differences and contrasting personalities—Cræosh’s belligerence and vulgarity, Gork’s short stature, Belrotha’s dimwittedness, Jhurpess speaking in the third person (“Jhurpess hungry!”), etc.—is easily a highlight of the novel. That and the incessant banter; seeing how certain relationships play out (Gork’s animosity for Fezeill, the friendship that develops between Gimmol & Belrotha, the tension between Cræosh & Katim because Katim wants to kill the orc to serve her in the afterlife), interesting subplots (Gimmol’s hidden talent, Vigo Havarren’s relationship to Morthûl, Morthûl’s secret plan) and the Demon Squad’s numerous (mis)adventures—training in the frozen Steppes, running errands for Queen Anne, uncovering a spy, fulfilling Morthûl’s mission—which forces them to face a wide variety of dangerous enemies including yetis, worm-creatures, troglodytes, nagas, undead/ghosts, murderous ambulatory trees, “a huge fu**ing hard-shelled swamptopus”, and much more.
From a negative standpoint, The Goblin Corps suffers from many of the same issues found in The Conqueror’s Shadow and The Warlord’s Legacy including shallow characterization, unexplored themes, and straightforward plotting. However, since it is the novel’s intent to entertain, not challenge intellectually, these drawbacks are hardly noticeable. Especially since the book never takes itself seriously. Regarding The Goblin Corps specifically, some of the jokes and humor starts to become tiresome in the second half of the novel, while it seemed odd that the book was called “The Goblin Corps”, even though the Demon Squad is never referred to by that title.
CONCLUSION: As much as I enjoyed reading The Conqueror’s Shadow by Ari Marmell, The Warlord’s Legacy left a bad taste in my mouth, and because of that, I almost passed on The Goblin Corps. That would have been a huge mistake. As good as The Conqueror’s Shadow was, The Goblin Corps is better. Better written, funnier, more fulfilling, and twice as entertaining. Basically, The Goblin Corps is must-read material for anyone who is a fan of Joe Abercrombie and likes seeing fantasy tropes viciously subverted. Don’t let the Abercrombie comparisons fool you either. Ari has his own style which he is perfecting, and if he can continue writing books like The Conqueror’s Shadow and The Goblin Corps, then I wouldn’t be surprised if exciting new fantasy authors were one day compared to Ari Marmell…

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“Bite Sized Horror” selected by Johnny Mains (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Posted in Fantasy Literature on July 1st, 2011 by Admin
Official Obverse Books Website
Order “Bite Sized Horror” HERE
ABOUT JOHNNY MAINS: Johnny Mains is a Scottish editor and writer of horror fiction. His bibliography includes the anthology Back From the Dead: The Legacy of the Pan Book of Horror Stories, The Horror Fiction of Mary Danby, and his debut collection, With Deepest Sympathy. Mains is also a regular contributor to The Paperback Fanatic, a magazine devoted to pulp paperbacks.
ABOUT OBVERSE BOOKS: Obverse Books is a small British publisher, specializing in publishing genre short story collections. Founded in 2008 by Stuart Douglas and novelist Paul Magrs, Obverse Books’ goal is to provide attractively packaged, high quality shorter fiction at a reasonable price to the genre market.
FORMAT/INFO: Bite Sized Horror is 96 pages long divided over six short stories and an introduction by Johnny Mains. June 30, 2011 marked the UK Paperback publication of Bite Sized Horror via Obverse Books. Cover art is provided by Paul Hanley.
ANALYSIS: Inspired by the New England Library paperbacks of the 1970s, The Obverse Quarterly is a set of four paperback short story collections published by Obverse Books—available both by annual subscription and as single volumes—with each book covering an area of interest to fans of genre fiction including horror, fantasy, science fiction and detective stories. The first of these collections is Bite Sized Horror, which is edited by Johnny Mains and features six brand new stories.
Leading off Bite Sized Horror is Reggie Oliver’s “Brighton Redemption”. Set in Brighton in the year 1885, and presented in the form of extracts from the journals of Right Reverend Cyprian Bourne-Webb, “Brighton Redemption” revolves around Alice Southern, a prisoner who may or may not have murdered her three-year-old half-siblings—twins—twenty-two years ago. Skillfully written and absolutely chilling, “Brighton Redemption” is definitely the highlight of Bite Sized Horror and a terrific way to open the horror anthology.
The follow-up story, Paul Kane’s “The Between”, is nearly as great. “The Between” starts off ordinary enough with Joe Hardwick fighting for the sole custody of his son, before shifting to a stuck elevator/lift and its seven occupants. At first, the scenes in the elevator/lift reminded me of the horror film Devil, but things quickly moved in another, more gruesome direction, with the book referencing a different horror flick: “It’s not SAW and it’s not bloody Die Hard, either. This is Jaws.”
Ten-year-old Allison stars in “His Pale Blue Eyes” by David A. Riley, a post-apocalyptic zombie tale about a girl who will go to any lengths to save her parents. “His Pale Blue Eyes” seemed strikingly familiar to me—probably because of all the zombie fiction I’ve read recently, not to mention The Walking Dead television series—but it’s still one of the best stories in the anthology.
Unfortunately, the second half of Bite Sized Horror is not nearly as impressive as the first, with Marie O’Regan’s “The Unquiet Bones” and “The Rookery” by Johnny Mains the two weakest entries in the anthology. The former is like a bad/cheesy B-Horror movie from the 80s, even beginning with a young couple stranded in the middle of nowhere and a scary looking building the only refuge in sight. Potentially, “The Unquiet Bones” could have been a lot of fun to read, but one-dimensional characters, wooden dialogue and uneven storytelling prevented the story from reaching its potential. “The Rookery” meanwhile, seemed more like an allegory about divorce and child custody than a true horror tale, especially considering the story’s ambiguous conclusion.
Closing out the anthology is “The Carbon Heart” by Conrad Williams. Conrad Williams is a favorite of mine, and the main reason for my interest in Bite Sized Horror since I was not familiar with any of the anthology’s other contributors. Sadly, “The Carbon Heart” is not one of the author’s best efforts, lacking the visceral intensity I’ve come to love & expect. Instead, the story—like “The Rookery”—seems more allegorical than horrifying, with the fifty-year-old protagonist reflecting on life, death and the passage of time. That said, Conrad Williams’ writing continues to amaze:
“Aren’t we all striving for immortality? Don’t we all fail it? The books we write crumble to powder, the music goes out of fashion, the speeches are appropriated and bastardised. Relationships fail. Things go bad. Everything and everyone gets forgotten. At least, for some of us, we manage for that not to happen in our own lifetimes. I thought of Jenny and the people who had known her and knew her now. Not many. Before long they would all be gone and she would exist for nobody. All those billions of people that have drifted across the face of the planet. Shadows and outlines. Phantoms. Fates.”
CONCLUSION: Bite Sized Horror may not be perfect, but the stories that stand out—“Brighton Redemption”, “The Between”, “His Pale Blue Eyes”—are exceptional and pay for the cover price all by themselves, while even the misfires possess redeeming qualities. Admittedly, I was disappointed by Conrad Williams’ contribution, but that was overshadowed by all of the talented new authors I became acquainted with. So all in all, Bite Sized Horror is a successful start to The Obverse Quarterly, which I will be continuing with in Zenith Lives!

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“Miserere: An Autumn Tale” by Teresa Frohock (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Posted in Fantasy Literature on June 22nd, 2011 by Admin
Official Teresa Frohock Website
Order “Miserere: An Autumn Tale” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE (PDF)
Watch the Book Trailer HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Raised in a small town, Teresa Frohock learned to escape to other worlds through the fiction collection at her local library. Miserere: An Autumn Tale is her debut novel.
PLOT SUMMARY: Exiled Katharos Lucian Negru deserted his lover in Hell in exchange for saving his twin sister’s soul, but Catarina doesn’t want salvation. She wants Lucian to help her fulfill her dark covenant with the Fallen Angel Mastema by using Lucian’s power to open the Hell Gates. Catarina intends to lead the Fallen’s hordes out of Hell and into the parallel dimension of Woerld, Heaven’s frontline of defense between Earth and Hell.
When Lucian refuses to help his sister, she imprisons and cripples him. After sixteen years living with the pain and guilt of what he did, Lucian is finally offered a second chance when a Katharos spy helps him escape from his sister’s clutches. During his flight from Catarina’s soldiers, Lucian comes across a foundling trapped in Hell. To save her, Lucian must open a Hell Gate, violating the terms of his Ban, which is punishable by death.
Now, not only must Lucian evade Catarina’s wrath while trying to protect an inexperienced foundling, but he is also being hunted by Rachael, the lover he betrayed and abandoned in Hell, who is dying from a demonic possession and seeks retribution…
FORMAT/INFO: Miserere: An Autumn Tale is 350 pages long divided over three Parts and twenty-one numbered/titled chapters. Narration is in the third-person, mostly via Lucian Negru and Rachael Boucher, while other POVs include Lucian’s twin sister Catarina, the foundling Lindsay Richardson, and Lucian’s Elder John Shea. Miserere: An Autumn Tale ends at a satisfying stopping point, but is the first book of the Katharoi, which will have at least two more sequels: Dolorosa: A Winter’s Dream (Book 2) and Bellum Dei: Blood of the Lambs (Book 3). July 2011 marks the Trade Paperback publication of Miserere: An Autumn Tale via Night Shade. The lovely cover art is provided by Michael C. Hayes.
ANALYSIS: Teresa Frohock’s impressive debut, Miserere: An Autumn Tale, takes the concept of characters passing from the real world into another world—think The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice In Wonderland, both of which are referenced in the novel—and sets it in the middle of an ages-old war between Heaven and Hell. In this war, Hell is a prison where its inhabitants, the Fallen, seek their freedom so they can return to Heaven. In order to accomplish this though, the Fallen must first conquer Woerld, a dimension that exists between Hell and Earth, with Earth the gateway to Heaven.
Defending Woerld from the Fallen are the Katharoi, warrior-prophets blessed with the ability to perform talents such as healing, telekinesis and commanding Hell Gates by channeling God’s spirit. Katharoi are originally from Earth. As children, those who are deemed worthy by the Celestial Court to defend Woerld from the Fallen, are allowed passage through the Crimson Veil which shields Earth from Woerld. There, foundlings are raised by Elders, who teach the foundlings how to control their abilities and the ways of a Katharos.
Into this setup, Miserere: An Autumn Tale revolves around four main characters: Lucian Negru, an exiled Katharos who abandoned Rachael, the woman he loved, to save the soul of his twin sister Catarina sixteen years ago; Lindsay Richardson, a 12-year-old foundling from present day Earth who bonds with Lucian as her Elder; Rachael Boucher—a Katharos Judge suffering from the possession of a demon called Wyrm—who has been tasked with hunting down Lucian, her ex-lover and betrayer; and Lucian’s twin sister Catarina, a former Katharos who now serves the demon Mastema and seeks to use Lucian’s powers to free the Fallen.
Between these four characters, Miserere: An Autumn Tale plays out like a Shakespearean drama because of the intense emotional turmoil that exists among the foursome. There’s the love that Lucian and Rachael once shared, the guilt & sorrow that Lucian feels for his betrayal and Rachael’s anger & pain for being betrayed, and the feelings they still harbor for one another. Then there’s the complicated love/hate relationship between the twins, with Lucian torn between his oath to always protect Catarina, his despair at what his sister has become, and his feelings for Rachael, while Catarina struggles between her twisted love for Lucian and her desire for power, which she will obtain by any means necessary, even if it means giving up her soul. Finally, there’s the special bond that develops between Lucian and the foundling Lindsay, a relationship that draws numerous parallels to the tragic events that occurred sixteen years before between Lucian, Rachael and Catarina; and serves as a key element in Lucian’s absolution—a reference to the novel’s title, Miserere, which is Latin for “have mercy”—Rachel’s deliverance, and Catarina’s just reward. Of course, all of this emotional drama would mean nothing if the characters were not convincingly written, highly sympathetic, and, in the case of Lucian, Rachael and Lindsay, extremely likable.
That said, it’s a good thing that Lucian, Rachael, Lindsay, Catarina and their drama are the focal point of Miserere: An Autumn Tale, because the rest of the novel doesn’t measure up to the same standards. For starters, Teresa Frohock’s world-building lacks depth, especially when it comes to describing Hell and the various places introduced in Woerld (Hadra, the Wastelands, Ierusal, the Citadel). Also, while I understood many of the rules governing Woerld and the Katharoi, the book still left me with several questions: Does time move differently in Woerld because Lindsay Richardson is a 12-year-old foundling from present-day Earth, while Lucian came from the 13th century, but is only forty years old? If the Fallen can only escape from Hell through Hell Gates, why are Katharoi born with the ability to open Hell Gates? Are the inhabitants of Woerld all originally from Earth, or were people there before the Katharoi arrived? Can Katharoi procreate, and if so, are their children born with the powers of a Katharos? If the Crimson Veil only opens for children on Earth, and only allows passage into Woerld, how do the Fallen plan on crossing the Veil into Earth? And so on…
Speaking of Woerld, supposedly every religion on Earth is represented through one of Woerld’s many bastions, with the different religions working together and respecting one another. Unfortunately, readers never really get to see this ideal world in action because the novel is primarily dominated by Christianity, which was a little disappointing considering the interesting potential this concept offered. On the plus side, Miserere: An Autumn Tale never gets preachy or heavy-handed, despite the novel’s emphasis on religion.
Moving on, Teresa Frohock’s writing in Miserere: An Autumn Tale may be accessible and emotive, but it’s also plain and unsophisticated—“The land surrounding her was flat with rock formations jutting out of the darkness. In the distance, mountains lined the horizon, and a volcano belched smoke and fire into the sky.”—which made it feel like I was reading a YA novel. Personally, I have nothing against YA fiction if that’s what the author was trying to accomplish, except Miserere: An Autumn Tale would occasionally venture into territory that bordered on dark fantasy and horror—torture, rape, the Simulacrum, demonic possession, the Sacra Rosa, profanity, etc.—which jarred uncomfortably with the book’s YA sensibilities. The YA-like writing also extends to the story, including shallowly developed subplots—traitors within the Citadel’s Katharoi—and predictable plot twists, not to mention a fairy-tale ending that dampened some of the emotional drama that came before. Lastly, as much as I loved the characters in Miserere: An Autumn Tale, I felt the author focused too much on Lucian and Rachael, in the process undermining Catarina and Lindsay, while the tragic events between Lucian, Rachael and Catarina sixteen years ago could have been explained in better detail.
In spite of these various issues, Miserere: An Autumn Tale remains an impressive and entertaining debut, led by an interesting concept in Woerld and the Katharoi, great characters, and compelling drama. So even though Teresa Frohock’s craft has plenty of room for improvement, I look forward to experiencing the author’s growth and development in the Katharoi sequels…

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“The Map of Time” by Félix J. Palma (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Posted in Fantasy Literature on June 22nd, 2011 by Admin
Official Félix J. Palma Website
Order “The Map of Time” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Félix J. Palma has been unanimously acclaimed by critics as one of the most brilliant and original storytellers of our time. His devotion to the short story genre has earned him more than a hundred awards. The Map of Time is his first novel to be published in English. It received the 2008 Ateneo de Sevila XL Prize and will be published in more than 30 countries.
PLOT SUMMARY: Privileged Andrew Harrington is a despondent young man who plans on killing himself. Eight years earlier, he had found the love of his life. It didn’t matter that their lives were vastly different—he born to a rich and entrepreneurial family and she a woman struggling to survive as a prostitute in London’s seedy Whitechapel section. He’s determined to declare his love for her and live happily ever after, even if it means leaving his privileged life behind. Everything changes however, when his beloved Marie Kelly becomes the last victim of the villainous Jack the Ripper.
That’s where H.G. Wells comes in. The publication of his novel, The Time Machine, has set off a furor of interest and curiosity about the possibility of time travel. There is even a company called Murray’s Time Travel that offers trips through time to witness a battle between humans and robots in the year 2000. Andrew’s cousin Charles is certain that Wells can rescue Andrew from despondency by helping him travel back in time to stop Jack the Ripper from killing Marie Kelly…
Claire Haggerty is young, wealthy, and very dissatisfied with her life. She’s sure she’s been born into the wrong time in history. She has no interest in the men who court her and she certainly has no interest in marrying any of them. She fears she will never find a man who will utterly sweep her off her feet and make her fall helplessly in love.
That is, until her cousin Lucy talks her into buying a ticket to one of the expeditions to the year 2000 through Murray’s Time Travel. All the advertisements boast of an incredible battle over the fate of the world between humans, led by the heroic Captain Derek Shackleton, and automatons. Entranced by Captain Shackleton’s courage—not to mention his manly physique—Claire is positive that she’s finally found the man she’s been looking for. She’s determined to go on the expedition and steal away from the group, profess her love for Shackleton, and stay with him in the future.
But Captain Shackleton isn’t quite who he seems, and he and Claire are caught up in a dangerous situation that threatens to rip them apart. And it’s once again up to H.G. Wells to use his imagination to protect a romance that spans time and class…
In the third act of The Map of Time, H.G. Wells must ‘save’ his own life. A brilliant writer who doubts his own skill, Wells has just finished the manuscript for The Invisible Man. No one, not even his beloved wife Jane, has read it. So naturally he’s horrified when he learns that the opening lines to The Invisible Man have been scrawled on the wall above the body of a homeless man who has apparently been murdered by a weapon not of this world. His horror mounts when two additional murders take place, each accompanied by mysterious opening lines, followed by a map requesting his presence at 50 Berkeley Square—the most haunted house in London.
Thus, Wells is compelled to embark on a desperate journey to save himself and his future. And in turn, he must make a momentous decision that will change the course of his—and his wife Jane’s—life forever…
CLASSIFICATION: Historical fiction, alternate history, time travel, mystery, steampunk, pulp adventure, romance and Victorian London collide in The Map of Time, recalling elements of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, Jules Verne, The Prestige by Christopher Priest, Gordon Dahlquist’s The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, From Hell, and The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
FORMAT/INFO: The Map of Time is 624 pages long, divided over three Parts and forty-three Roman-numbered chapters. Narration is in the third-person omniscient via an unknown narrator who will occasionally break the fourth wall and address the audience directly. The Map of Time is self-contained, but I believe the book is part of a trilogy. June 28, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of The Map of Time via Atria Books. The UK version (see below) was published on June 9, 2011 via HarperCollins. The Map of Time was translated from Spanish to English by Nick Caistor.
ANALYSIS: Welcome, dear reader, as you plunge into the thrilling pages of our melodrama where you will find adventures of which you never dreamt!
If like any reasonable person you believe that time is a river sweeping away all that is born towards the darkest shore, in these pages you will discover that the past can be revisited, that mankind can retrace his footsteps thanks to a machine that can travel through time.
Your emotion and astonishment are guaranteed.
So begins Félix J. Palma’s astonishing novel, The Map of Time. A novel about time travel—set during Victorian London—that was inspired by The Time Machine and pays homage to its famous author, H.G. Wells, who is not only a character in the book, but the main protagonist. As a fan of time travel—who doesn’t like Back to the Future or Terminator?—Victorian settings and H.G. Wells, The Map of Time immediately captured my interest and filled me with excitement. However, much to my delight, reading The Map of Time was even better than anticipated.
For starters, Félix J. Palma’s writing is simply exquisite: “It felt so good to let himself be enveloped by the protective mantle of that immense unconditional love, that magic cape shielding him from life’s coldness, the icy indifference of every day that made his soul tremble, the incessant wind filtering through the shutters and seeping into his innermost depths.” Fortunately, there is much more to the author besides gorgeous prose. Félix J. Palma is the complete package, excelling in all phases as a writer including characterization, world-building, creativity and storytelling. (NOTE: As lovely as Félix J. Palma’s writing is, it would not be possible in this edition if not for Nick Caistor’s wonderful translation.)
Characters for instance, are incredibly lifelike with their innermost thoughts and feelings intimately portrayed. Fittingly, Félix J. Palma spends the most time with Herbert George Wells, fleshing out the events that fired his passion for literature and writing; his roundabout path to becoming a published author instead of a baker’s assistant; the meeting with Joseph Merrick—the Elephant Man—that inspired The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau; and his opinions on such varied topics as book reviews, the social commentary found within his novels, love, parallel universes, fate vs. free will, and so on. Since The Map of Time is a work of fiction, Félix J. Palma does take liberties with certain aspects of H.G. Wells’ life, but because the author writes with such authenticity and attention to detail, it’s impossible to separate fact from fiction. Andrew Harrington, Claire Haggerty, Captain Derek Shackleton and Inspector Colin Garrett of Scotland Yard are written with the same skill and intimacy, but none of these characters are as compelling as Wells, although Gilliam Murray—a supporting character—succeeds as an interesting rival to the author.
Félix J. Palma also does a masterful job with the setting, recreating a Victorian London that makes the reader feel like he traveled back in time. Personally though, I was more impressed with the author’s ability to integrate actual historical figures and places into the novel in a manner that felt natural and convincing, including Jack the Ripper, Marie Kelly, Whitechapel, Joseph Merrick, Dr. Treves, Henry James, Bram Stoker, and 50 Berkeley Square. I also appreciated the numerous references to the era—Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Darwin, Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Nikola Tesla, Allan Kardec, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, King Solomon’s Mines, Inspector Frederick Abberline—that reminded me why the Victorian period is one of my favorite settings in literature.
Time travel meanwhile, is represented in The Map of Time by four different methods: the very same time machine that is depicted in H.G. Wells’ classic novel; a fourth dimension—described as a pink plain—where time is stopped and its inhabitants can create holes to different moments of the time continuum, including May 20, 2000; a machine that digs tunnels through the fabric of time; and Homo temporis, humans who developed the ability to travel through time using their minds. Only one of these methods is actually viable in the book, but all four concepts provide the reader with countless pages of entertainment, thought-provoking moral complexity, and mind-bending paradoxes.
Plot-wise, The Map of Time consists of three Parts, each Part relating a separate tale, with all three stories connected by certain characters and themes including H.G. Wells, Gilliam Murray, love, and time travel. The story’s strength lies in its unpredictability, which in turn, is orchestrated by a mysterious omniscient narrator who uses clever misdirection, well-timed surprises and shocking plot twists to constantly keep readers on their toes. At the same time, Félix J. Palma manages to keep things accessible, despite the complexity and ambitiousness of the story.
Unfortunately, as much as I loved The Map of Time, Félix J. Palma’s novel is not perfect. For one, because of an extraordinary amount of backstory, over two hundred pages go by before any real adventure even transpires in the book. An issue that recurs throughout the novel, though not at the same extreme as the beginning of the book. Not only that, but the author’s writing can be long-winded at times which, combined with all of the backstory, results in a page count that is much longer than necessary. Admittedly, the omniscient narrator’s presence helps alleviate these issues by directly addressing concerns that a reader may have—why the backstory is important for instance, or the reason for switching to another POV in the middle of a paragraph—but nevertheless, the novel could have benefited from additional editing, like the unnecessary details surrounding William Harrington’s ascent to fortune and social status. Furthermore, Félix J. Palma has a tendency to explain certain concepts, plot twists and revelations in explicit detail, as if afraid readers would be unable to figure out things on their own. Finally, as a fan of science fiction and fantasy, I felt cheated a couple of times because of the unexpected direction The Map of Time took, but the novel easily redeems itself in the excellent third act. That said, the novel’s conclusion does feels a bit anticlimactic, especially considering everything that came before…
CONCLUSION: Even with imperfections, Félix J. Palma’s The Map of Time is quite possibly a masterpiece, if not a future classic. At the very least, the novel deserves all of the praise it has received thus far, and will receive in the future. Granted, The Map of Time will not be for everyone, despite the genre-defying scope of the novel, but anyone who can appreciate what Félix J. Palma’s book has to offer will be in for a treat. As for myself, The Map of Time is certainly one of the best novels I’ve read all year, in any genre, and is a book that I will be recommending to readers for years to come…

Fantasy Book Critic

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“Songs of the Earth” by Elspeth Cooper (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Posted in Fantasy Literature on June 1st, 2011 by Admin
Official Elspeth Cooper Website
Order “Songs of the Earth” HERE
Read Extracts HERE + HERE
Watch the Book Trailer HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Elspeth Cooper was born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne. Ever since she was read Ivanhoe as a bedtime story, she has been fascinated by storytelling. Now her lifelong fascination with language has been put into practice with Songs of the Earth, her debut novel, and the first book in The Wild Hunt series.
PLOT SUMMARY: The Book of Eador, Abjurations 12:14, is very clear: Suffer ye not the life of a witch. For a thousand years, the Church Knights have obeyed that commandment, sending to the stake anyone who can hear the songs of the earth. There are no exceptions, not even for one of their own.
Novice Knight Gair can hear music no one else can—beautiful, terrible music: music with power. In the Holy City of Dremen, that can mean only one thing: death by fire . . . until an unlikely intervention gives him a chance to flee the city and escape the flames.
With the Church Knights and their witchfinder hot on his heels, Gair hasn’t time to learn how to use the power growing inside him, but if he doesn’t master it, that power will tear him apart. His only hope is the secretive Guardians of the Veil, though centuries of persecution have almost destroyed their Order, and the few Guardians left have troubles of their own.
The Veil between worlds is weakening, and behind it, the Hidden Kingdom, ever-hungry for dominion over the daylight realm, is stirring. Though he is far from ready, Gair will find himself fighting for his own life, for everyone within the Order of the Veil, and for the woman he has come to love…
CLASSIFICATION: Songs of the Earth is a PG-13 traditional epic fantasy novel that reminded me at times of Terry Brooks, David Edding’s The Belgariad, and Gail Z. Martin…
FORMAT/INFO: Songs of the Earth is 480 pages long divided over thirty-seven numbered/titled chapters and an Epilogue. Narration is in the third person, mainly via the protagonist Gair, but there are also several minor POVs. Songs of the Earth comes to an acceptable stopping point, but leaves many matters unresolved and is the first book in The Wild Hunt trilogy, which will be followed by Trinity Moon (Book 2) and The Dragon House (Book 3).
June 16, 2011 marks the UK Hardcover & Trade Paperback publication of Songs of the Earth via Gollancz. The North American version will be published by Tor in Spring 2012.
ANALYSIS: According to Gollancz, Elspeth Cooper’s Songs of the Earth is “the fantasy debut of 2011”. If only that were true. Instead, Songs of the Earth is a mediocre fantasy offering that fails on many different levels…
Originality is the novel’s most glaring problem. Not only is the magic system in Songs of the Earth highly derivative—shape-shifting, weaving shields, creating illusions, healing, speaking with the mind, controlling the four elements, etc.—but the world itself is sorely lacking in the creativity department, with races (Nordmen, elves, desertmen), religion (think the Roman Catholic Church) and various other aspects (chess, hypoglycemia) of the world culled from obvious sources. In fact, it seems like the only effort Elspeth Cooper made in creating her secondary world, was to change the names of things and alter a few minor details.
To make matters worse, world-building is practically nonexistent. For instance, it takes the author over 300 pages to reveal that Astolans are not human, while important concepts like the Veil, the Hidden Kingdom, the Founding Wars and the starseed are barely skimmed over. Then there’s the story, which is bloated with commonplace ideas like the hero blessed with incredible power, a school for the magically gifted, insurrection among the church’s leaders, a magical boundary that is weakening, and a power-hungry villain who once was a student of the good guys—the Guardians of the Veil.
Writing-wise, Elspeth Cooper’s prose is accessible and impressive at times—especially whenever the author is describing scenes of sword fighting, shape shifting, using the Song and romance—but dialogue and similes/metaphors are simplistic and seem more suited for a children’s book instead of an adult audience. Characters meanwhile, are difficult to visualize apart from vague impressions (old, young, tall, strong, fat, dark-haired, etc.), while understanding how a character thinks or feels is only marginally successful. This is particularly disappointing because the book contains a number of interesting themes that could have been explored in greater detail—Gair haunted by the memories of his torture; Gair’s church upbringing suddenly challenged by a different lifestyle and different beliefs; Aysha’s handicap; human/non-human prejudice; and Alderan committing evil in the name of the greater good. On the positive side, Gair is a charming protagonist while the relationships he develops with Aysha, Darin, Alderan and the like, are reasonably convincing.
Structurally, Songs of the Earth suffers from POVs that shift between characters without any rhyme or reason—like Alderan disappearing from the book for long stretches at a time; subplots that either take too long to develop or fail to reward the reader (Masen’s journey to warn the Guardians of the Veil, the coup against Preceptor Ansel, Elder Goran’s motive for hunting down Gair, etc.); and several questionable choices made by the author, including her decision to withhold key pieces of information (Gair’s shape-shifting ability, Tanith’s royal heritage, Savin’s evil nature and dark goals) for no logical reason that I can see, except maybe to provide dramatic effect during their eventual unveiling. As a result, Songs of the Earth feels very disjointed, like the author didn’t quite know what she was doing, and just ended up haphazardly putting together pieces as she was writing her book. These structural issues also cause the book to suffer through several periods (Gair’s journey to Chapterhouse, Masen’s journey, Gair’s life at Chapterhouse, Ansel & Danilar’s narratives) that are just downright tedious.
Admittedly, the novel redeems itself some during the last fifty pages or so with tragic events that end Songs of the Earth on a powerful note, while introducing a number of interesting developments to be explored in the sequel. By that time though, it was a little too late as the book did not impress me enough to justify reading the second volume of The Wild Hunt trilogy. That said, I believe Trinity Moon has the chance to be much better than its predecessor, if Elspeth Cooper can improve her craft and if she can write a more focused and compelling narrative. Unfortunately for her debut, Songs of the Earth is a pedestrian fantasy novel plagued by unoriginality, simplistic writing, and structural flaws…

Fantasy Book Critic

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