Reviews :: Book Genre :: Fantasy :: Page 30

It took me a while to catch on to this series by Elizabeth Bear.  I’d seen reviews when the first book, RANGE OF GHOSTS, came out, including here at EBR (EBR Review).  I even saw the second book in the series, SHATTERED PILLARS, come out and also reviewed here (EBR Review).  The books started to sit in my mind a bit.  It took a while, but they sounded like something I needed to be a part of.  So late last year I finally got RANGE OF GHOSTS (loved it), and for Christmas I received SHATTERED PILLARS (fantastic) so that I could be ready to go when the last volume STELES OF THE SKY (Amazon) came out.
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Kestrel is the teenage daughter of a general in the Valoria army, the equivalent of the ancient Roman Empire. He helps the provincial governor in the Herrani territory, where they have enslaved the invaded locals. As a Valorian she must soon decide to join the military or be married. But despite a knack for strategy her combat skills are lacking–her true talent lies in the piano.
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Teenage Rain Cacique lives in the Prospero Keys (known to locals as The Ghosts), a series of islands between Florida and the Bermuda Triangle. To her dismay, she’s pretty sure she’s going to spend the rest of her life there, catering to the tourists who come to enjoy the tropical weather and scenery. Her and her friend Charlie spend their last free days before school begins having as much fun as they can.
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HALF A KING (Amazon) by Joe Abercrombie is one of the most hyped novels of the year. Check out some of the author blurbs and you’ll see what I mean. Patrick Rothfuss, Rick Riordan, Robin Hobb, and Brent Weeks are among the fantasy heavyweights heaping praise on the novel. When Abercrombie first announced HALF A KING I was anxious. He’s my second favorite author and my very reason for returning to the fantasy genre, but I couldn’t see how well his brutal wit and grim perspective would translate to a YA novel. You’ll no doubt notice that this review has been filed under “Books We Love,” but it didn’t start out that way.
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In FIREBRAND (EBR Review) we met the Sithe brothers Seth and Conal. They were exiled beyond the Veil to the world where full-mortals live, as part of a promise to their queen that they would find the bloodstone. By the time BLOODSTONE (Amazon) begins, four hundred years have passed, and Leonna, Conal’s mother, is coming to the conclusion that they will never find what they’re looking for, that it doesn’t exist.
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Noon Onyx is a waning magic user–the same magic used to control the demons who won Armageddon. Her magic is not what’s extraordinary, it’s that she’s a woman with an ability that manifests only in men. In the series’ first book, DARK LIGHT OF DAY (Amazon), Noon had to come to grips with her ability and be trained so she wouldn’t be a danger to herself and others.
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Atticus and Granuille are in trouble. Of course. But the stakes are higher than usual. The Norse god of mischief, Loki, is on the loose and needs to kill Atticus before he can start the Apocalypse. At the same time our favorite Druids are being tracked by the goddesses of the hunt themselves–Artemis and Diana–in retaliation for giving Dionysus grief in TRAPPED (Amazon). The only safe place for them is in the world of the Tuatha De Danann, but the only way they can get there is to find a gateway on English soil, and they must run fast across Europe if they want to live.
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It’s Risa Jones’ fault that the first key to the portal of hell was found and used, and why dark energies are beginning to leach into the world. OK, maybe it’s not all her fault, but she’s convinced that none of it would have happened without her interference. Or her existence.
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You were first introduced to Isabella Camherst in A NATURAL HISTORY OF DRAGONS (EBR Review) in what Steve called a fantasy version of Downton Abby… kinda. I would also like to point lovers of Novik’s Temeraire series, and even those who enjoy Elizabeth Peter’s Amelia Peabody series, to this exciting new world Marie Brennan has created.
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DJ Jaco, the sentinel for New Orleans, has proven her mettle. In ROYAL STREET (EBR Review), Hurricane Katrina changed boundaries with the Beyond, flooding the area with preternaturals, her mentor disappearing in the chaos. In RIVER ROAD (EBR Review) she solves a wizard’s murder and settles a mer feud. Now in ELYSIAN FIELDS by Suzanne Johnson (Amazon), it appears that one of the historic undead has emerged from the Beyond to continue what he started in 1918… as a serial killer.
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