Reviews :: Book Rating :: Books We Love :: Page 29

Back in 2009 we read Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s DIVING INTO THE WRECK. With its incredible accessibility to all sorts of readers and its awesome idea of wreck diving in space, it instantly became one of our favorites that year. We waited patiently for the sequel, and it finally came out.

CITY OF RUINS (Amazon) follows up a bit after DIVING. Boss is back, and this time she’s made a company that investigates the stealth tech discovered in the first novel. On a hunch she heads to city of Vaycehn to investigate the possibility of stealth tech on the planet. With her are a slew of historians, archeologists and the other six people who can safely navigate the stealth fields. The people in the city are suspicious, and the city itself falls victim to a weird phenomenon called “death holes” that swallow whole sections of Vaycehn. It’s partly the mystery behind this city that makes the book so enthralling.
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No, this isn’t LEVIATHAN WEPT, the short story collection from Daniel Abraham. This is LEVIATHAN WAKES, the collective effort of Mr. Abraham and his buddy, Ty Franck. Why such similar titles from the same author? Who knows. They aren’t related though. This one is new. It’s special. It has a fancy cover. Whoa, cool. But is it good? Of course it’s good. You gotta know I’m gonna love it. This guy just plain delivers.

LEVIATHAN WAKES (Amazon) is the first in a planned series of five books titled The Expanse, and was a book that I expected some good Ju-ju from. If you’ll remember, I’m not such a big fan of Science Fiction in general. I do have my favorites though, and James S. A. Correy (Abraham and Franck’s pseudonym) is now one of them. Add him to your list, people. Yeah.
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Adrian Tchaikovsky is gold! Gold, we say! We have stated over and over in our reviews that one of the main things we look for in a series is growth. Growth in the story, growth in the characters, and especially growth in the author. The instant we began reading Tchaikovsky’s work we were hooked. Sure, EMPIRE IN BLACK AND GOLD had some problems–what authors don’t have problems in their first novel? But even with those problems, EMPIRE was awesome. With each novel he got better. The problems slowly vanished. The characters in the series matured. The setting, somehow, got infinitely better. It got to the point where we were mentioning Tchaikovsky in the same breath as our favorite authors.
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Every once in a while I come across a book, or series of books, that totally yanks the carpet out from under me. I don’t expect more than the ordinary when I pick ‘em up (other than, perhaps, noticing the amazing cover art). I plop myself down in a chair, open the thing up, and quite simply just get to it. Then it reaches out, smashes me in the face with its awesomeness, and says, “You love me!” Leaving me with naught to do but obligingly respond, “Yes. Yes I do.”
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How do you end a series? We’re sure this is a question every author asks at some point during a career. We’ve read quite a few series from start to finish, and have decided that writing that satisfying ending and conclusion must be the hardest thing to do. Why? We chalk it up to expectations. This can be crippling to the final book in a series, especially when the series has been SO good.
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There is a scene in the show Deadwood that has stuck with us for years. A preacher has a seizure that ravages his brain. He can’t do anything about it. He can’t see straight. Can’t hardly walk or talk. It gets to the point where he can’t do anything. Enter Al Swearengen, the owner of a whorehouse, and an extremely unlikable fellow. It is one of the few moments in the show where Swearengen’s exterior is stripped away and we are left seeing the anguish he feels at the preacher’s condition. In a heart-breaking scene, Swearengen does what no one else is willing to do.
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Magic is not what it used to be. Now it’s less potent. It’s less reliable. Fewer people can use it. As a result science has gained popularity and the people of Sabria are experiencing a Renaissance.

But the Aspirant wants to change all that—and he will resort to murder to get what he wants.

The story began in Carol Berg‘s THE SPIRIT LENS (Amazon), a fantasy whodunit told from the viewpoint of Portier, cousin to the king, and charged with finding the source of a failed assassination plot. It unravels into a mystery beyond a simple murder attempt and into full-blown conspiracy, with the king’s bosom friend Michael de Vernase as the suspected instigator.
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There are very few authors whose body of work makes us cackle with boyish glee. Chris Wooding is one. Jonathan Maberry another. Recently Sarah Pinborough has joined those ranks. For those of you keeping score, when Larry Correia writes something new we drop everything. You can then find us camped out with a flashlight in the living room under a tent made of sheets and blankets. Never mind we own our own homes.

We are just going to come out and say it: Larry Correia’s HARD MAGIC (Amazon), book 1 of the Grimnoir Chronicles, is completely fun and awesome. Everyone knows how much we like his Monster Hunter series. We like this one more. Much more. Everything about HARD MAGIC is positively saturated with style…

…well, and explosions of course.
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What was the last book you read that completely blew you away? It shouldn’t be too hard to remember, especially given the astounding levels of mediocrity present in most genres. Being book reviewers–and this may shock you–we read a TON of books. Horror novels fall apart in the end. Thrillers can almost always be predicted. Dan Brown is, well, Dan Brown. Fantasy gets bogged down in the cliché. SF makes you feel like you need an advanced physics degree. Every genre has its downfalls. We read so much that for a novel to really stand out, it has to be special.

Have we piqued your curiosity yet?
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For some unknown, benevolent reason, we fantasy readers have fallen into the good graces of the genre gods. Why is that? you ask. I simply don’t know. Truly. But isn’t it obvious? We’re smack in the middle of a veritable geyser that has brought, or will bring to our greedy little eyes and hands titles from those authors that we most love: WAY OF KINGS, THE HEROES, WISE MAN’S FEAR, THE WHITE-LUCK WARRIOR, BLUE REMEMBERED EARTH, THE CRIPPLED GOD. And who can forget the recent announcement for A DANCE WITH DRAGONS (maybe it will actually happen this time)? Enough big-name books to keep any good fantasy reader satisfied for most of a year, entire. And yet, despite the excitement, despite the fervor, despite the sheer giddiness of it all, there was no other book that I anticipated more than this one. It wasn’t even close (sorry KJ Parker, even this one trumped you).
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