Adrian Collins's Blog, page 196

REVIEW: Bloodlines by Chris Wraight

Bloodlines, by Chris Wraight, is the first full-length novel of Warhammer Crime line put out by Black Library. It therefore has a certain set of expectations attached to it: can it make the mean streets of Varangantua stick as a setting? Will the protagonist, Agusto Zidarov have a return outing?

Well, one of Wraight’s great successes for Black Library has been his settings: witness the stifling sense of place in his Vaults of Terra books. Varangantua is well-formed as a dark and rain-soaked hive city – vast enough to contain distinct districts, with significant differences in wealth, function and architecture. It benefits from being the only scene of the action. Rather than the brief sketches of terrain, industry and government provided in other books, there is a slower but more thorough approach to world-building. We see family life and street-life; take-away food, future slang and home entertainment. The hive city has something of a standardised cyberpunk feel to it; there is not the riot of ramshackle storefront hackers and hap-hazard body modifications, but rather mass industrial combine and numerous officials issued with identical implants. Other worlds and features of Warhammer 40,000 appear purely epileptically.

That said, the life of Agusto Zidarov fits into the wider setting neatly. His wife and his adult daughter may be atypical of a Warhammer protagonist, but said daughter’s desire to enter an Imperial Guard regiment will likely elicit a knowing reaction from established fans. Zidarov himself does not stand out significantly – an older detective (‘Probator’), showing his age, contending not only with the criminals of Varangantua, but also the de facto arrangements between gangs and Enforcers. Vitally, he’s not a gunslinger. Armed and armoured he might be, but fire-fights are not his speciality.

Zidorov’s search for a missing son of a wealthy family, aided and abetted by trigger-happy colleagues, interfering superiors, mob bosses and the missing man’s own family will not seem unfamiliar – especially for those who know their Raymond Chandler. However, the hidden motivations of the various players are memorably drawn and explored in sufficient depth to ward off cliché. Further, the precise industry that Zidarov uncovers is simultaneously an interesting conceit for a future-crime novel and a good reflection on established Warhammer lore. It would be spoiling to say which areas exactly Wraight chooses to expand on, but a memorable quote on the matter would be that ‘whenever there’s an expensive safe thing, there’s also a cheap, dangerous thing’.

Some of the lives and follies of Varangantua will perhaps fail to adhere – for instance, the depictions of the city’s wealthier quarters seem oddly disjointed. Nevertheless, the investigations of Zidarov and his struggle for one clear victory in the chaos of an imperial hive are compelling.

For Bloodlines, I would suggest Three Stars are in order, but with very strong hopes for the future of this series.

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Five Tor.com novellas to help you fall in love with shorter books

When the incredibly popular review, article, and free short story site Tor.com announced they would be publishing novellas, I honestly had a bit of a publishing-business-gasm. What an absolute masterstroke of strategy to use the sheer weight of web traffic and established short story relationships they had to start a publishing business. And, what another excellent thought to look at the industry, realise that there is a market for shorter works that are still longer than short stories, in an increasingly time-starved market, and just go for it.

Needless to say, the team and I are big fans of Tor.com, and you’ll find a stack of reviews of their novellas on this site. Five of our favourites, which we highly recommend you check out, are listed below.

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Just bloody excellent. Five stars. The very fucking cool alternate history world; the magnificent and engaging characters; and the thoroughly enjoyable plot—this novella has it all and more. I can’t recommend it highly enough and I can’t wait to read more Sarah Gailey.

Read the rest of Adrian’s review here.

A Song for No Man’s Land by Andy Remic

Andy Remic has hit that feeling of horror–much like we see in All Quiet on the Western Front–with a dark fantasy angle that felt smooth and enjoyable in his novella. Robert Jones joins the war to avoid a drinking debt and clean up. His past–not his financial past, but his childhood run in with some fantastical beasts in the Devil Wood–has chased him into the biggest slaughter the world has ever lay witness to.

Read the rest of Adrian’s review here.

The Builders by Daniel Polansky

One of the best pieces of fiction I’ve read in 2017, the Builders is a masterclass in character and story and world. Betrayal, tough as all hell characters, a little flavouring of grit and a glut of unsavoury characters working towards an unsavoury goal–this has everything I and any GdM fan could want.

Read the rest of Adrian’s review here.

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht

The Monster of Elendhaven is a story rich enough for a full-length novel yet beautiful enough for a poem – a strange, grim, and mesmerizing tale that will leave you wanting to read it again immediately to find out what you missed, which is exactly what I did, and it was even better the second time.

Read the rest of malrubius’ review here.

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water is a brilliant novella. It provides all the entertainment, action, surprises, and hilarity one could want from 33,000 words, but in the end, it makes you think about people, their lives, their relationships, their motivations, and their futures. I most highly recommend this book to discerning readers of grim fantasy as well as to ‘literary’-type folks who enjoy books like Alix E. Harrow’s also-brilliant The Ten Thousand Days of January. And even though there are so many more new books to review, I think I’m going to have to dive into Zen Cho’s back catalogue for a bit first.

Read the rest of malrubius’ review here.

Check out more reviews of novellas

You can check out more reviews of novellas, here.

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REVIEW: Black City by Boris Akunin

Boris Akunin’s Black City is a 2012 Russian thriller, translated by Andrew Bromfield in 2018 for Wiedenfeld & Nicholson. It sits towards the end of the Erast Fandorin series; these are, variously, detective stories, thrillers and mysteries, generally set in and around the Russian Empire of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Fandorin himself is a former government agent, getting on in years by the time of Black City. He is a successful and respected private investigator, a polymath and something of a dandy. Previous books featured a spy hunt during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, a murder mystery set aboard a cruise ship and an investigation among the decadent artistry of 1900 Moscow.

A murder in Yalta takes him to Baku, the titular Black City. Baku (as football fans discovered last year) is the capital of the present-day Azerbaijan, but in 1914 is part of the Russian Empire enjoying the fruits of an oil boom. The causes and consequences of the First World War and the Russian Revolution are certainly in the mind of the author, and likely the reader, though this is not quite a novel ‘about’ those historical events.

This was a return after several years to the Erast Fandorin series and I was not disappointed. The background of Baku makes for a spectacular setting at the intersection of Tsarist authorities, Bolshevik conspirators, nouveau riche oil moguls, struggling industrial workers, Islamic culture, modern technology and the ethnic tensions of the Caucuses. Elements of Black City and its fellows are rather pulpy – as the numerous gunfights, romantic interests, speedboat chases and Fandorin’s Japanese manservant and companion bear out. This said, the Japanese elements are conveyed with a respect and depth due to Akunin’s academic background in Far Eastern studies; pulpy they might be, but they don’t seem phony.

I also suspect some of the phraseology and humour does not translate perfectly from the Russian, but this does not reflect poorly on Andrew Bromfield at all. Indeed, at least a passing familiarity with Russian history, literature and customs will be useful to the reader so you don’t choke on the references to Chekov, or the ‘Erast Petroviches’, ‘Mesrop Karatepoviches’ and other patronymics. That said, it will be easier to start your journey into Russian literature with this than to go into Crime and Punishment unprepared.

I enjoyed the brisk pace and sense of place in Black City, though it may not sit perfectly with all. A new reader may appreciate reading one of Fandorin’s earlier adventurers first. This in mind, I shall award it Three Stars for a broader audience.

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REVIEW: All Systems Red by Martha Wells

I started listening to All Systems Red on Scribd with the hopes of passing some time listening to something fun and simple while doing kitchen chores. Boy, was I wrong. I ended up not only cleaning the kitchen, reorganizing the pantry, fridge, cooking dinner, and meals for the next day in the hopes of listening to as much of this as possible before having to put it away for the night. It is a compulsive and addictive read. Once you start reading it, it is so short and exciting you will not want to stop till you get to the end.

All Systems Red is a perfect and tidy story. When I say tidy, it isn’t derogatory. Novellas have to get a lot done in a short amount of time. The author needs to convey a thought, history, emotion, narrative, and plot progression. So all of the choices the author makes need to be concise and tidy. In Martha Wells’ All Sytems Red, she created an exceptional character in Murderbot, Murderbot being the name he calls himself. He is cynical, confused, and courageous but more than anything, he seems very human. This character works quite well within the context of a novella because the reading audience has a cultural dialog regarding machines with human emotions, i.e., The Terminator. There isn’t a lot of groundwork to be laid, we already have a feel for what this scenario could look like. Murderbot is an artificial life form with organic components, and these components work in tandem with its artificial ones to create the perfect killing machine.

How life works for the Murderbot is that he is deployed on contract through his host company, The Company. In the first installment of the quadrilogy of short stories, Murderbot is protecting and defending a group of scientists and geographers on an inhospitable planet. Murderbot hacks his mainframe to start making independent choices aside from is company programming. Most of his decisions consist of which type of soap opera to watch on the entertainment channels available at his outpost. However, when another outpost on the same planet gets attacked, Murderbot needs to step in to protect the scientists that he has become attached to. What plays out over the brief story is exciting scenes, great dialog (both internal and external), and an excellent plot jump to the next novella.

I loved this, and it is easily understood why the author received so many well-deserved accolades. All Systems Red is funny and enjoyable.

Originally published on Before We Go blog.

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REVIEW: Blindness by Jose Saramago

Blindness by Jose Saramago is not a book that you read more than once. It is a suffocating immersive dive into the failings of human nature. It is chaos. Blindness tells the story of an anonymous city that is stricken with a mysterious illness that blinds a majority of the population. A man is suddenly and mysteriously blinded. He yells for help, and a supposedly helpful passerby takes him home but subsequently steals his car. The man who stole the vehicle is then stricken blind. And so on, and so until chaos rolls across the land. Everyone who comes into contact with a blind person is then blinded. People are forcibly quarantined in an attempt for the government to stymy the plague. An ophthalmologist who treated the original person is stricken, and his wife, who seems to be immune to the disease, joins him in quarantine. The question is, “what is her role?” Does she tell the people around her that she is blind, or that she is sighted? What is her responsibility to the people around her? For me, that was the crux of the novel. The asylum devolves into madness. Food and medicine become a traded commodity. Once the food runs out, there is not much left to trade but sex. Rape and violence follow. Gangs form, the worst of human nature rears its ugly head. Amongst the constant barrage of excrement that is human nature, moments of kindness periodically twinkle like stars passing behind a cloud. You want more, but Saramago delivers only the briefest of moments to remind the reader that the soul of humanity is not all garbage, just most of it. Life collapses, this is the new normal. The survivors make due the best that they can. New relationships form and human connections. When in crisis, it is said that you can see someone’s true nature. It breaks open, and people are their true selves. We recognize that again and again in Blindness. Saramago pulls no punches and there are few heroics in this book, just raw emotional pain. Would I reread Blindness, absolutely not. Hell no. Can I recognize genius when I read it? Yes, of course. Saramago won the Nobel Award for this story. And rightfully so. It is that good, but it is not pleasant. It made me feel greasy and dirty inside. It made me question humanity and how much humanity relies on the cushion of technology. It was in its way terrifying. Do I recommend you read this? Honestly, I have no idea. This book was a deep reaming of the soul. If that is the kind of experience you want, read it. I gave it five stars because it is good, great even. But god is it an emotionally hard read. Originally posted on Before We Go blog.

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REVIEW: Blindness by Jose Saragamo

Blindness by Jose Saragamo is not a book that you read more than once.

It is a suffocating immersive dive into the failings of human nature. It is chaos. Blindness tells the story of an anonymous city that is stricken with a mysterious illness that blinds a majority of the population. A man is suddenly and mysteriously blinded. He yells for help, and a supposedly helpful passerby takes him home but subsequently steals his car. The man who stole the vehicle is then stricken blind. And so on, and so until chaos rolls across the land. Everyone who comes into contact with a blind person is then blinded. People are forcibly quarantined in an attempt for the government to stymy the plague. An ophthalmologist who treated the original person is stricken, and his wife, who seems to be immune to the disease, joins him in quarantine. The question is, “what is her role?” Does she tell the people around her that she is blind, or that she is sighted? What is her responsibility to the people around her? For me, that was the crux of the novel.

The asylum devolves into madness. Food and medicine become a traded commodity. Once the food runs out, there is not much left to trade but sex. Rape and violence follow. Gangs form, the worst of human nature rears its ugly head. Amongst the constant barrage of excrement that is human nature, moments of kindness periodically twinkle like stars passing behind a cloud. You want more, but Saragamo delivers only the briefest of moments to remind the reader that the soul of humanity is not all garbage, just most of it.

Life collapses, this is the new normal. The survivors make due the best that they can. New relationships form and human connections. When in crisis, it is said that you can see someone’s true nature. It breaks open, and people are their true selves. We recognize that again and again in Blindness. Saragamo pulls no punches and there are few heroics in this book, just raw emotional pain.

Would I reread Blindness, absolutely not. Hell no. Can I recognize genius when I read it? Yes, of course. Saragamo won the Nobel Award for this story. And rightfully so. It is that good, but it is not pleasant. It made me feel greasy and dirty inside. It made me question humanity and how much humanity relies on the cushion of technology. It was in its way terrifying. Do I recommend you read this? Honestly, I have no idea. This book was a deep reaming of the soul. If that is the kind of experience you want, read it. I gave it five stars because it is good, great even. But god is it an emotionally hard read.

Originally posted on Before We Go blog.

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REVIEW: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

I received a limited edition proof copy of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Christopher Paolini and Tor Books.

In To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, we follow the third-person perspective of Kira Navárez who is a xenobiologist. We join her towards the end of an assignment on the Earth-sized moon of Adrasteia. On the final excursion to the moon, Kira uncovers a mysterious relic. What was hidden there was placed away for a good reason and Kira’s discovery of it will have dramatic consequences for herself personally, her crew who were studying Adrasteia, as well as to all in the known galaxies and beyond. As the back of the novel fittingly describes it: “Space holds countless secrets. She just found the deadliest one.”

I’m aware that Paolini is a fantasy megastar and I am one of the few amongst my friends who haven’t read The Inheritance Cycle. I went into To Sleep in a Sea of Stars as a blank canvas with regards to Paolini and enjoyed this fact so that I could analyses what is billed as the author’s first adult novel on its qualities and merits. I can confirm that To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a deep, well-written, and intelligent SF-epic that is definitely for the more mature audience.

Set approximately 250-years in the future, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars features interstellar travel to planets and space stations, space battles and skirmishes, on planet confrontations, aliens and sentient life, a fair few swears, and quite a lot of impalement. It’s a beautifully-written novel, brimming with poignant moments, great action-segments, and an awesome skinsuit that bonds with our protagonist.

After Kira’s discovery and the catastrophic repercussions, she spends the majority of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars on a space vessel known as the Wallfish, or with the ship’s crew as they deal with the threats of two alien species (known as the Jellies and the nightmares) who both wish for the destruction of humankind. The crew of the Wallfish are a great ensemble to follow, all having intriguing and diverse pasts, all seem extremely loyal to each other, and qualified in their areas of expertise. The ship’s captain Falconi, the kid Trig, and the ship’s mind Gregorvich all have great interactions with Kira. The latter, brilliantly intelligent, poetic, yet slightly unhinged is a standout creation. I loved his banter with Kira and the many colourful nicknames he gives her (“O Spiky One”, “O Queen of Flowers”) and the crew of the Wallfish. There is also a pig that lives on the ship and is a favourite pet of the crew.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a behemothic novel that features 850+ pages in both the ARC and the hardback versions. Creating something this detailed in a first foray in both science fiction and adult fiction is extremely ambitious by Paolini and I think he succeeds as he’s created an enjoyable and grand space opera with significant depth and detail. I have to admit, that I wasn’t always in the mood to read To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. I had to set aside a good chunk of my day and make sure that I had no distractions so that I could completely lose myself in this science fiction adventure. Every time I approached it I wanted to make sure that I could make a sizable dent in the novel. This is the first novel in the Fractalverse and is a complete standalone. The finale is stunning and completely fitting for the scale and scope of the narrative. Some of the characters could come back in future escapades, and others are almost unrecognisable with the manner they change throughout this book. The next Fractalverse story could contain a whole new cast but it is definitely something I will be willing to check out when it is released. To summarise, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars isn’t YA and it doesn’t feature any space dragons but for those readers who like intelligent and ambitious SF with a Mass Effect feel then there is a lot to enjoy here.

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REVIEW: Warriors of the Storm by Bernard Cornwell

Warriors of the Storm is the 9th entry in The Saxon Stories series that follows Uhtred of Bebbanburg and it is my favourite of the books so far. It has a brilliant opening and the standard doesn’t drop for the length of the whole book.

At the beginning of Warriors of the Storm, a fifty-something-year-old Uhtred is residing at the stronghold of Ceaster. Mercia seems to be thriving under the rule of Æthelflæd. Things have been tranquil and peaceful for a couple of years but now a new threat is on the horizon. The fierce warrior Ragnall Ivarson leads an army and he has his sights set on both Mercia and Northumbria. Ragnall is a leader of repute and for all intents and purposes, a man to be feared. To make matters more interesting, he is also Uhtred’s son-in-law’s brother

“Ragnall Ivarson. I had never met him, but I knew him. I knew his reputation. No man sailed a ship better, no man fought more fiercely, no man was held in more fear. He was a savage, a pirate, a wild king of nowhere, and my daughter Stiorra had married his brother.”

Being the ninth novel in the series, a lot of what is presented here has been seen before throughout these tales. Battles, skirmishes, shield-walls, formidable opponents, intelligent tactics, and quality side characters (both seasoned and new). Alongside The Burning Land and The Last Kingdom, Warriors of the Storm, for me, is a perfect example of Cornwell’s formula. The formula seems to be working on me though as I have read all 9 of these books so far this year. With them all being 300 or so pages and enticingly devourable within 3-4 days I may very well finish this series this year, timing it well with the imminent release of the final novel War Lord. I have rated all of the books 3-stars and above.

“I was Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg, in my war-glory. The arm rings of fallen enemies glinted on my forearms, my shield was newly painted with the snarling wolf’s head of my house, while another wolf, this one of silver, crouched on the crest of my polished helmet. My mail was tight, polished with sand, my sword belt and scabbard and bridle and saddle were studded with silver, there was a gold chain at my neck, my boots were panelled with silver, my drawn sword was grey with the whorls of its making running from the hilt to its hungry tip. I was the lord of war mounted on a great black horse, and together we would make panic.”

Although ageing, Uhtred is still formidable, imposing, often stubborn, Thor-following, battle-ready, and fiercely intelligent. He is renowned across the land. It’s a joy to follow Uhtred’s first-person perspective as an even older Uhtred tells the reader his tales. His family is extremely important to the narrative here and some of his children have become stars of the cast too. There is a brutal and tragic moment that features one of his family members and it definitely plays with the heartstrings.

In Warriors of the Storm, we find out about more about fan favourite Finan’s past with their being an important Irish presence in this story. These parts made me love Finan even more. He is of a similar age to Uhtred but still possesses unrivalled speed with a blade. Other ageing characters who were first featured at the very start of the series in our narrator’s younger days play important parts here too. I adore stories where we follow a character from youth for their whole lives. Alongside the narrative of FitzChivalry Farseer in The Realm of the Elderlings, the tale of Uhtred is the finest I have ever read where we follow a character for 50+ years.

Warriors of the Storm is another brilliant example of Cornwell’s historical fiction. My line up of reviews for October and November features some of the most anticipated reads in science fiction, fantasy, and horror but I’m sure I will sneak another couple of The Saxon Stories books in between as they are criminally addictive and feature a lead whose escapades I just want to read more about.

“It is not difficult to be a lord, a jarl, or even a king, but it is difficult to be a leader. Most men want to follow, and what they demand of their leader is prosperity. We are the ring-givers, the gold-givers. We give land, we give silver, we give slaves, but that alone is not enough. They must be led. Leave men standing or sitting for days at a time and they get bored, and bored men make trouble. They must be surprised and challenged, given tasks they think beyond their abilities. And they must fear. A leader who is not feared will cease to rule, but fear is not enough. They must love too.”

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REVIEW: Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu-Earth, Vol. 1 by Gerry Finley-Day

Rogue Trooper began life in the British comic 2000AD in the early 1980s, initially the work of Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons. Other artists in this first volume are Cam Kennedy, Brett Ewins, Colin Wilson, Mike Dorey and Eric Bradbury. Alan Moore would provide a few of the stories.

The story is set on is Nu-Earth (prepare yourself for plentiful future slang), once a paradise world at a hyperspace junction devastated by years of war between two great alliances – the Norts and the Southers. This planet is so poisoned by chemical weapons that in most places humans cannot survive without a sealed chemsuit.

Thus, the Southers created the blue-skinned GIs – Genetic Infantrymen – who can survive the poison atmosphere. But in their first action they were betrayed and massacred. One survived to hunt down the traitor outside the military chain of command – the titular Rogue Trooper. He is accompanied by his comrades, now implanted in biochips attached to his war-gear, still speaking to him as he roams the poison wastes.

Rogue’s history is revealed to the reader gradually, across a number of flashbacks. Each episode deals with another skirmish in the wastes of Nu-Earth, as Rogue and his comrades encounter another band of struggling Southers, and another part of the exotic Nort war machine. Wunderwaffe of the week, if you will – the Norts are practically copied from the pages of World War II comics of the time, complete with names like Wagner or Torpitz, yells of ‘Nain’, and a threatening lightning-cloud emblem. The Southers receive a blandly American depiction, with a scattering of references to the American Civil War (the Battle of Mek-Bull Run, Harpo’s Ferry). The reference to the war of brothers serves to suggest equivalence with the Norts – they are a half of the war machine that has killed Nu-Earth.

The image of the (practically) lone supersoldier and his quest is an arresting one, but the spread of adventures Rogue finds himself in don’t always match it. The schemes of the Norts sometimes divert from the outlandish to the camp, as do the perils of Nu-Earth. The Fort Neuropa arc is particularly out of sync in this regard.

However, when the various elements align, it can be satisfying. Gibbons’s livid, contorted faces wrenched from their gas masks are arresting. The variety of outlandish weapons works as well: hovering shrapnel mines, sentient barbed wire, hallucinogen-spraying tanks, poison saboteurs, the drop-troopers of the Nort Sun Legion apparently hang-gliding from orbit. It all adds up to a singular, nightmarish vision of future war.

Duncan Jones, known for his excellent debut Moon, is directing an adaption of the strip for the screen, so you might want to get a head start on that with this volume. The varying quality of the strips means that I am hard-pressed to give a single star rating to the material within – thus, I would brace yourself for an average of Two or Three Stars and be pleasantly surprised by the exceptions.

Read Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu-Earth, Vol. 1 by Gerry Finley-Day

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REVIEW: Witchsign by Den Patrick

Witchsign by Den Patrick is a slow burn of a novel but promises a solid foundation for the Ashen Torment series. Patrick, whose previous stories included the dark fantasy series Erebus Sequence, writes Witchsign as a novel that can be appreciated by adult and YA readers alike.

Their town of Cinderfall is colored in gray shades, whether it be from ash or dirty snow, brother Steiner and sister Kjellrunn have only known the gray their whole lives. Steiner is a fledgling blacksmith apprentice; his goals in life are to take care of his family, especially his eccentric sister Kjellrunn, find a wife to love, and live in as much comfort as he can fight for. Kjellrunn has always known she was a little bit different. Instead of chasing boys and persuing relationships as some of the other girls in her village, Kjellrunn seeks out the calmness and solemnity of the forest. It brings her quietude, beauty, and color.

A ship arrives, as it does every year, full of the Empire’s Invigilators. Invigilators are servants of the Empire and, specifically, the Emperor that seek out and sense those with Witchsign. A set of power of the elements. Some have the ability for fire, some earth, some wind, and some water. If an Invigilator detects the Witchsign than that child needs to report to the ship the following morning and be taken away permanently. No one knows what happens to the child. They are just gone. The Inviligators are rightly feared by parents and children alike. The time of the Invilligators has come, and it is Kjellrunn’s turn to be tested…

The story is told almost entirely from the perspectives of the two kids, Kjellrunn and Steiner. Kjellrunn is left in the village and shunned by the whole community save for her dad and uncle. Steiner is mistakenly shipped away to an academy/prison that sits on a rocky island surrounded by rough seas called Vladibodgan. The island’s location is a great secret and only know to those of high ranks in the Empire, and ships that bring supplies to the island. The kids’ lives have taken drastic turns from each other. Steiner must survive his ordeal. He doesn’t have Witchsign, and that is of great embarrassment to the invilligators in charge. Kjellrunn shunning leaves her unable to get food for her family; her family’s smith is also being shunned and told to move to another town. Kjellrunn only wants to survive and help et her brother back at all costs. At the same time, Steiner wants to get off of the island and protect his sister.

I think this parallel of intention between Steiner and Kjellrunn is the heart of the story. Both are desperate to save the other. This desperation fuels the characters desire chapter by chapter. It is an exciting perspective for a reader to watch the scenes unfold and know that they might miss each other if they are successful.

As far as characters go, Steiner and Kjellrunn are pretty standard. At least at this point. Steiner is a sort of angsty teenager but, at his core, has morals and strength. Kjellrunn is also similar, angsty, but where Steiner has a core strength, Kjellrunn has a lot of emotion. I think this part is a means of differentiating her from other characters in the book. She feels a connectedness to the world and nature specifically that is not experienced in other characters. Both characters have moments where they are irritating. Steiner is very much a hothead, and Kjellrunn is a bit flighty. I think that as the story progresses, we will see these two characters mature. Their natures both will be tempered by experience, and they will grow as people.

There are also some great side characters in this book. The book mainly focuses on the siblings; however, we get insight into the side characters and interact with them. I get the impression that their presence in the main character’s life will play a crucial role in future books.

I generally enjoyed Witchsign. Some moments slowed the pace down, and I was looking forward to switching perspectives. I think inevitably when reading Witchsign you will be either Team Steiner or Team Kjellrunn. Both have similar goals, save the other person. But I found myself on Steiner’s team. I looked forward to the parts that featured him while not being wholly engaged in Kjellrunn’s plight. Maybe that will change in future books, and Kjellrunn will be a character that will have more growth and be more enjoyable for me to read. But as it stands, she seems almost as a side character.

The worldbuilding shines in Witchsign. Patrick expertly creates a unique world. Some elements build on popular mythology in fantasy novels, but generally, the world feels very fresh and inventive. I loved the magic system. The last 20% of the book moved at a lightning pace. The action, coupled with the solid world creation, made it fly page to page. I hope that this pace continues in the next novel, Stormtide, and I am looking forward to seeing what new plot twists Patrick will pull.

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