ELITIST BOOK REVIEWS

We love when sequels improve upon their predecessors. You’ll recall we gave a favorable review to Adrian Tchaikovsky‘s EMPIRE IN BLACK AND GOLD (EBR Review). Sure, there were issues with it, but that doesn’t mean the book wasn’t good. The second book in Tchaikovsky’s Shadows of the Apt series is DRAGONFLY FALLING (Amazon), and for the most part it improves upon the original in every way.

DRAGONFLY picks up right where EMPIRE ends. The Wasp Empire is is poised to invade the Lowlands, and are beginning with strategic cities used in trade and manufacturing. Our main cast of characters from EMPIRE are all here, and are in different corners of the known world trying to convince different races to band together against the Wasps. Really, this sounded like it could have become bogged down in people talking and negotiating. This kind of thing bugs us (Get it? Bugs? Never mind…) Did that happen? Uh, no.

You see, DRAGONFLY FALLING is all about war. Lots and lots and lots (that’s a lot of lots) of war.
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Joe Ledger is back! After battling zombies in PATIENT ZERO (EBR Review), our hero gets no rest. In Jonathan Maberry‘s THE DRAGON FACTORY (Amazon) the stakes are even higher, and Joe is thrown in the midst of political, genocidal, and transgenic turmoil.

The story starts by introducing a couple of guys as the greatest mass murderers in the history of the world, an “Extinction Clock,” and then a couple jerk-face NSA dudes attempting to bring Joe Ledger in. Sucks to be them.
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If you have been following our not-so-humble blog, you know we like George Mann. So when we got our paws on his GHOSTS OF MANHATTAN (Amazon), published by Pyr, we knew we were in for a treat.

GHOSTS is set in America during the roaring 20’s, but with a Steampunk bent, and as if that isn’t cool enough, George Mann inserts enough Urban Fantasy elements to create a sweet mesh of the two genres. Actually, the genre almost does a complete swap in the last third of the book. It was a little jarring, but the pace of the book swept us along, without giving us time to let the change bother us.
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Dear Jim Butcher: we apologize for doubting you. Seriously.

You all may remember last year when we reviewed TURN COAT (EBR Review). In short, we were pissed. It just wasn’t that good. In fact it was one of the books we hated most last year. We had decided to swear off reading Butcher forever. Steve even sold his Dresden Files collection. It was a sad day. Luckily that anger faded, and we decided that we should read Butcher’s latest Dresden Files novel, CHANGES (Amazon).
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At this point, even the most rabid zombie fiction fan has to be thinking, “Okay…. seriously… I’m getting kind of tired of all the zombie stuff…” We are included in that group. Yes, even Steve. So when we picked up FEED (Amazon), by Mira Grant, we began reading with trepidation and skepticism. After all, no matter how much you eat a food you love (this is not in reference to the dietary habits of zombies), if it is a course often served, you will get tired of it. This is how we approached FEED. Not very lucky for poor Mira, who could have, easily, been subject to one of our hate reviews.
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The Hype Machine strikes again.

In case you didn’t notice, the Hugo Award Finalists were announced just a bit ago. Among the contenders was listed WINDUP GIRL (Amazon), by Paolo Bacigalupi. There has been all sorts of hype about this novel. People are heralding it as a masterpiece, or as a frightening look into our future. And it’s true, on the surface the ideas that make up the setting seem pretty outstanding.
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Being the diligent readers that we are, we often browse through the import selection of various websites (imports to the US that is). After all, it is usually only a matter of time before the book get published here. But, every now-and-again, we get a tad impatient (We want books NAO!). This was the case with Chris Wooding‘s RETRIBUTION FALLS (Amazon).

It’s hard to say what genre RETRIBUTION FALLS, uh, falls under. It is SF, with some magic, and religion, and a retro-futuristic world, airships, pirates, gun-fights, sword-fights, and dog fights. It is truly a mix of everything. Usually, this is a recipe for disaster. Wooding, on the contrary, makes it dang-near perfect.
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Robert McCammon is probably best known for his Horror novels. Some of his best work, however, is in the genre of Historical Fiction. Hopefully you have read his two previous novels involving the character Matthew Corbett, SPEAKS THE NIGHTBIRD (Amazon) and THE QUEEN OF BEDLAM (Amazon). If not, you have been missing out. The novels take place 1699 (and progress over the following years) in colonial America. McCammon’s newest Matthew Corbett novel, MISTER SLAUGHTER (Amazon) — such a great title — was released earlier this year by Subterranean Press.
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Steampunk. You can hardly go wrong with it. It’s that genre that is filled with airships, goggles and adventure. With the novel BONESHAKER (Amazon), Cherie Priest tries her hand at the steampunk genre.

We had heard a lot about this novel. Authors, editors, and readers everywhere called it amazing. We had heard it called one of the best steampunk novels ever written. Do you see where this is going? Yeah. We were let down. WAY down.
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James Dashner‘s THE MAZE RUNNER (Amazon) has garnered a lot of attention since its release. It is a novel filled with really cool and unique ideas, so on that end, its attention is completely understandable.

The plot centers around a group of amnesiac teenagers, stuck together in a foreign, hostile, and deadly maze, where bizarre creatures roam. These creatures are called Grievers, and they hunt the Gladers–as the kids call themselves–while the walls of the Maze are constantly changing. They are in marginal contact with their “captors” who send them supplies and new kids. However, the schedule of “one new kid a month” is broken the day after the main character Thomas arrives, when Teresa, the first girl Glader ever arrives with a message that “Everything is going to change.” We should mention hate this over-used phrase.
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