Category :: Review :: Page 94

George Mann is awesome. That is all.

OK, that really isn’t all we are going to say, but it covers our opinions nicely. George Mann has given readers quite the year. If you were late to the party, you got THE AFFINITY BRIDGE (EBR Review). You also got GHOSTS OF MANHATTAN (EBR Review). In the UK you got THE IMMORALITY ENGINE. And now here in the US, THE OSIRIS RITUAL (Amazon) has finally been released. How great is that?
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Carrie Vaughn writes books for the female demographic, no doubt about it. Her Kitty Norville series (review of her latest book in that series coming later) has scooped up quite a bit of popularity and recognition, so really it was only a matter of time before she started branching out more and more. DISCORD’S APPLE is her latest effort towards giving her readers something a little different from her normal releases.
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Okay, so let’s be up front. I’m completely jealous of Stephen Deas. Yes, it’s true, and no you can’t laugh at me because I’m not going to allow you to. So there. The largest portion of this jealousy stems from the fact that he lists K.J. Parker on his acknowledgments page. K.J. Parker. That nearly dropped me right where I was. At the bus stop. I’m also jealous of him though because Mr. Deas was one of those newbie authors with a humble number of publishing credits to his name, when one of the “Big Guys” over at Gollancz decided to ask him to write a book for them.

Whoa.
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I was first introduced to the work of Catherynne M. Valente a few years ago when my brother bought me THE ORPHAN TALES: IN THE NIGHT GARDEN (Amazon). Based entirely on that one present he is now my favorite brother. That book was amazing. I almost cried when it was over because there wasn’t any more of that fascinating story to read. I never wanted it to end. Needless to say when Valente’s PALIMPSEST (Amazon) was released I picked up a copy immediately hungry for another beautiful story.

PALIMPSEST is the tale of a sexually transmitted city.
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Because we are the benevolent Book Gods that you have to know, love, and worship, we have a treat for you today. A review AND an interview. Without further ado, we present JC Marino, author of Dante’s Journey.
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If you haven’t read any Naomi Novik you’re a little behind the times, but that’s okay, because I can give you a quick run-down on the series thus far. We first meet Captain Laurence and his dragon Temeraire in HIS MAJESTY’S DRAGON (Amazon), which is set during the Napoleonic Wars, where battles aren’t only fought on land and sea, they’re also fought in the air with dragons. However, these aren’t your run-of-the-mill dragons, most of them are huge and have their own aerial crew with captain, lieutenant, riflemen, bombers, and etc.

Captain Laurence, who became Temeraire’s rider by happenstance, has spent his military career playing by the book; but Temeraire, unlike most dragons of the British Air Corps, is very intelligent and has his own ideas about how things should be done. This combination makes for some fine adventures that take place from France to Africa clear to Temeraire’s country of origin, China. Novik follows the Napoleonic Wars pretty faithfully in the first books, but then the series veers from history when Napoleon attempts to invade England.
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It’s really not an exaggeration when we say SWORDS & DARK MAGIC (Amazon) was easily one of our most anticipated titles of the year. In fact, that doesn’t even say enough. Edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders, this collection, to us, was like the Holy Grail of short story anthologies. Why? The first three stories in the collection, in the order they appear: Steven Erikson, Glen Cook, Gene Wolf. Yeah. That’s just the first three stories.

Sheesh.
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So, I don’t particularly care for science fiction. Call me a hypocrite, yes you may, but don’t be too harsh, because there may be some hope for me yet. In fact, you might have already heard of him. His name is Alastair Reynolds.

I don’t remember how I came across my first book from Mr. Reynolds or what possessed me to pick it up. Perhaps it was the fact that I really did (somewhere deep inside) like science fiction and wanted to find something good. Or maybe it was an impressive review that I found about one of his previous books. Then again, it could have been the contract he has with Gollancz, which speaks for ten books over the next ten years for £1m. Whoa. Regardless, I picked up HOUSE OF SUNS (Amazon) by him shortly thereafter and was far from disappointed.
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Lois McMaster Bujold is easily one of my favorite authors, from her Hugo Award winning PALADIN OF SOULS (Amazon) to the immensely popular Miles Vorkosigan series. When she began The Sharing Knife series I was excited to see her writing new fantasy, and picked up BEGUILEMENT when it first came out in paperback in 2007. The fourth and final book, HORIZON, was released in paperback this past January.

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I feel really bad. How am I supposed to review the fourth and concluding volume of a series? Either you’ve already read the first three books and nothing I say will sway you to read it or not, or else you haven’t read any of the preceding volumes… and in that case what are you doing reading this review? It’s gonna have major spoilers!

So, that being the case, I’ve decided to do the only decent thing I can and review all four books in one single review. That’s right, four reviews for the price of one. Are you ready? Here we go.
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