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REVIEW: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

The Priory of the Orange Tree is an epic fantasy jewel of a novel. It features terrific characters, stunning set-pieces and a brilliantly crafted grand and picturesque world.

Throughout this tale, we follow four distinctive point of view perspectives. In the East, the storytellers are Tané – an orphan who is training to join the High Sea Guard, and Niclays – an exiled alchemist. In the West, the narrative is presented by Ead – a handmaiden to Queen Sabran the IX, and Loth – a lord and close friend of the Queen. The characters are well-crafted and I cared about all of them, even though Niclays is a scumbag sometimes. I spent about ten days reading The Priory of the Orange Tree so I developed a natural affinity to the main players. The standout characters are the main three women of the novel. Ead, Tané and Sabran. They are complex, extremely well developed and strong-willed throughout even in times of despair and heartache. Occasionally the main male characters seemed a tad bland compared and my favourite passages to read were those presented by Ead and Tané.

Shannon’s fantasy world is divided. The West and the East have different customs, religions, histories, and fables. It is illegal for anyone from the West to enter the East and all outsiders are believed to have a plague and are executed. The only common view they share is the hatred of the Nameless One and his draconic horde. The fire-breathers. The Nameless One was banished almost a thousand years ago yet his time of slumber is nearly at an end. In anticipation, his army is garnering their strength and resources which will lead to the seemingly inevitable destruction of all who stand in his way.

The Priory of the Orange Tree is incredibly detailed, neatly composed and has more stunning set-pieces, outstanding moments and unexpected twists that most epic fantasy trilogies. The novel includes many fantasy elements or tropes but all seems well worked. It features a fabled named sword, magical jewels, a sisterhood of mages, talking animals, and the already-mentioned dragons. In addition to the fire-breathers including the Nameless One and his army, there are also the Eastern Dragons. These Dragons are of wind and water, live peacefully alongside humans and are revered by them as being living Gods.

“The dragons watched her. It was said they could see the deepest secrets of a soul, for human beings were made of water, and all water was theirs.”

Although a lengthy, doorstopper-sized 848 pages, it seems like occasionally Shannon tried to fit too much into a single novel. Sometimes certain events felt rushed. For example, in the time it took me to read a ten-minute chapter, a character had travelled a quarter of the length of the world. Also, some of the characters meeting and randomly crossing paths is too far-fetched and unbelievably convenient. These aspects didn’t really affect my enjoyment to any great degree other than an occasional eye-rolling moment. Due to the length of the novel this also very occasionally felt like a slog for slower-burning chapters but this emotion wasn’t felt too often.

The characters travel throughout huge proportions of the world. Especially Loth and Ead who seem to venture all over the place. I’m not sure if Shannon is intending to return here to write again but it would seem a waste if she didn’t as it is exceptionally well realised. The two maps the novel features are beautiful too.

There were many standout moments here. One point at approximately 75% blew my mind and I did not see it coming at all. The finale was action-packed, truly epic and brought all the stories together expertly. During the last hundred pages, I was completely attached to the characters and engrossed in the tale. At this point, I was reading slower than normal and truly savouring all that was happening and contemplating what was due to come. I was sad The Priory of the Orange Tree came to an end but was content with the outcomes of all those involved. Some of these scenes will stay in my mind for a while, one, in particular, is the scene that the amazing cover art depicts. The Prior of the Orange Tree should be read by all fans of epic fantasy.

Buy The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

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REVIEW: Winter’s Fire by Giles Kristian

The Gjallarhorn blows, Winter’s Fire calls you to read the Saga within its pages, the fierce battles upon its seas and the violent but brilliant band of characters that accompany Sigurd Haraldsson on his journey for revenge.

“He may be a king, but sometimes even the most fruitful, sweet apple can give sour fruits.”

Winter’s Fire, written by Giles Kristian is book 2 of his Sigurd Trilogy, focussing on the years prior to the Raven Saga. Sigurd has a worryingly shrunken crew of Norse warriors after the ending of book 1, and must begin by amassing a larger band – all in the hope of achieving his goal, to kill King Gorm, the betrayer of Sigurd’s father. I loved the feeling in WInter’s Fire of ultimately wanting to achieve an end goal, but having to do lots of mini-stories in order to get to the final push. It felt like a game with side-characters giving Sigurd challenges for more companions, loyalty or his life. I loved it.

I also loved how it started a lot slower than Gods of Vengeance. We have got to grips with the characters by now and can spend some quiet time learning more about them and focusing on their interactions. There are some excellent characters that I would share a tankard of mead with any day, Olaf, Bjorn, Sigurd and Valgerd just a few. The beginning really allowed us to get behind the characters even more.

“Depending on luck is like wanting to hold the water in your hand.”

There are several twists and turns in this epic book. One of the POVs is a man of Alba seeking to murder Sigurd. His thread was excellently written, at times tense and frustrating but all for the right reasons. Sigurd’s sister Runa is also a thread and an intriguing one, but of course, Sigurd’s is full of everything there is to love about Viking life aboard a Drakkar ship.

If you are a fan of well written historical fiction, or Bernard Cornwell, or Vikings, or books that have plenty of action, shield-walls and all manner of violence then you’ll enjoy this! It’s a brilliant book that makes me long to be in a ship-band of my own, which is what I expect to feel like each time I read a Giles Kristian novel.

“You worry for nothing brother,” Bjorn had said, “for even a seiðr-wife (witch) cannot put a spell on something she can’t see. It would be like trying to hit a louse with a spear-throw.”

5/5 – Yet again another awesomely told Viking story! Giles Kristian is a master of historical fiction and I cannot state enough that I love these Viking adventures. The characters are formidable and hilarious, the action is blood-pumping (and blood-spurting), the landscapes magnificently described and the dialogue authentic. I am sensing that the 3rd instalment will be epic.

Buy Winter’s Fire by Giles Kristian

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REVIEW: 10,000 Bones by Joe Ollinger

Joe Ollinger’s timing of 10,000 Bones is just right. The science fiction genre is saturated with dystopian novels that ask questions of the reader, “What if there were no water? Or Food? Or Sunlight?” None I have seen until now have asked the question, “What if there is no calcium?” It is a perfect question to ask. In the reader’s mind, calcium is the most benign of things, and it surrounds us. Ollinger creates a vibrant world built around the procurement of calcium tinged with mystery, adventure, and a kick-ass female protagonist.

The world Ollinger creates in 10,000 Bones resembles a world that, to me, is a cross of a wild west town and a city from the TV show Firefly. Named Brink, it is all hot and bright with a thin patina of red dust the encapsulates everything. It is full of inhospitable people scrabbling out a living in the dirty, dusty land, and always in need of calcium and water. Ollinger describes it as “…a last chance gas station on one of Earth’s old, long highways – a staging area, a waypoint to more promising, more hospitable worlds…” Also present is the very visible Oligarchy of the rich described as having more elegant clothes, healthier bodies and a distinct lack of hypocalcemia bruising often found in the poor.  The dichotomy of the poor versus the wealthy is fascinating here. Something as simple as drinking a glass of milk is considered the highest of high falutin living.

This book is in the classic “who done it” style. We have our heroine, Taryn. A rough and tumble collections agent described as muscular and robust that wears body armor. Her job is to seek out leaks of unauthorized calcium currency and return it to the government. In this world, calcium is cleverly written as a tradeable currency.  Doing her job, she is always surrounded by the unlawful, the dying and the dregs of society. This brings up shattering moments from her past that often play a part in her decision making in the present. She also has a wealth of empathy, tho to function in her position as a collections agent, and by extension survive in this society, she has to suppress it. She reminds me very much of Marvel’s Jessica Jones. She has a similar attitude and position minus the superpowers.

The story progresses with Taryn becoming enemy #1 of the state as she hunts for who is stealing the calcium supply. It is exciting and turbulent all within the context of an investigator type mystery. Along the way, we meet various side characters including a sidekick/romance interest of a sort in the form of a wealthy calcium auditor, Brady. He is described as “looks more like a business executive than a bureaucrat.” The absolute only complaint I have in this story is I found Brady to be a tad unbelievable. His motivations as a character and dialog were muddy. This threw me out of the story at points. I just could not suspend belief when it came to Brady’s and Taryn’s interactions. However, this book could easily have a sequel. If so, as a reader I would love to know more about Brady’s backstory and have him fleshed out as a more substantial character.

There are beautifully created images throughout the story that keep the pages turning as the reader seeks out the “who did it.” All of this climaxes into a rather explosive denouement. This, in turn, finalizes into an open ending that is rife with a possibility for sequels.

The author asks us, “What if there is no calcium?” As a reader, I can say “I know that one. It looks like this…”

Buy 10,000 Bones by Joe Ollinger

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REVIEW: Saint’s Blood by Sebastien de Castell

Saint’s Blood is the almighty penultimate entry into the Greatcoats series. Grab your bow, grab your broadsword or rapier, grab your greatcoat, fore the Saints are dying and the Gods are coming.

“Why is life so much easier to live when people are trying to take it from you than when you’re forced to actually live it?”

It’s been a while since I read Knight’s Shadow and from the first chapter in Saint’s Blood I realised how much I had missed the unique and dynamic relationships of Falcio, Kest and Brasti. Taking some time away from our three Greatcoats showed me how they have all grown as characters from book 1 (Traitor’s Blade – if you haven’t read it, read it). They have gone through so much together and it really reflected in each of their engagements. They are still the hilariously, laugh-out-loud funny trio of friends, still giving each other banter that I will never get bored of. Each character had a moment or several to shine, moments to reflect and moments to be utterly awesome.

The plot follows the overarching theme similar to books 1 and 2, though with some great twists that set up the final instalment perfectly. I won’t go into details of the plots and arcs as this is the 3rd of the series and spoilers would be intertwined with any info so just know this – each move the characters make is logical and believable whilst always being shocking and unexpected and the twists are real.

“I walked over and hugged him, knowing it would only make things worse for him. I don’t get that many chances to torture Brasti.”

Coming from the POV of someone who is obsessed with doing good, fighting evil and championing the right thing can be dull and overwritten if done incorrectly but Falcio is an epic character who really calls for you to sit in his corner and cheer him along. He has a love interest which can be slow and not as exciting as the rest of the scenes but hey, we don’t mind that when the rest of the book is so good! There is urgency within the characters as they always feel three steps behind those who are seeking to destroy what they stand for.

If you haven’t read Sebastien de Castell before then take the plunge, you won’t regret it. Each scene is full of hilarity, intense and exhilarating duels, torture scenes, philosophical conversations and arguments and the shimmering of hope within a dark world. It resembles the musketeers with the group dynamics and the rapiers, with depth that is enhanced with each book. I for one cannot wait to dive into the final entry, no matter how nervous I feel about what is going to happen to my favourites!

“But no man is all one thing; none of us are pure in our beliefs or our devotions. We are all bound by the frailties of our humanity, some of which feed our hatred, some of which, very occasionally, make us want to be something better.”

5/5 – Saint’s Blood is another epic instalment into the Greatcoats series. You are guaranteed to love the three main characters, they have not lost any of their wit or charm. The secondary characters are as always strong and really add to the growing tension and terror in this book, making me very excited for the final book, Tyrant’s Throne. Let me know what you think of this series!

Buy Saint’s Blood by Sebastien de Castell

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EXCLUSIVE: GdM#22 cover reveal featuring Jeff Salyards Scardevil

Grimdark Magazine #22 is here! We have a brilliant line up of stories, interviews, and articles–but first off, let’s have a look at this amazing cover Carlos Diaz has created based upon Jeff Salyards’ magnificent story, Scardevil–a story about a powerful witch back from the wars trying to eke out a living in a land where her kind’s powers as healers brought many a wounded soldier home, but their reputations as savage butcherers have terrified the people they fought for to the point where they are now outcasts.

Carlos has done a wonderful job of portraying a dank, dark, and explosive scene of the story in his cover below. Read on down past the cover to check out a short excerpt of the story to whet your appetite.

Buy your copy of Grimdark Magazine #22

Get yourself a copy of GdM#22 featuring fiction from Jeff Salyards, Anna Stephens, and Peter McLean. We have interviews with Dyrk Ashton and Alicia Wanstall-Burke, as well as articles by Gareth Ryder Hanrahan and Adrian Collins, and finally a review of The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho.

Excerpt of Scardevil by Jeff Salyards

Some people foolishly insist that a walk in the woods is a lovely thing, a pleasurable thing, even an affirming thing. Which, I concede, could all be possible. Provided you aren’t mauled by four-legged predators or murdered or raped by the two-legged variety, the weather isn’t punishing in one of a hundred ways, you have a sturdy pair of shoes that neither leak nor pinch, and you have a high tolerance for stinging nettles and bloated blood flies and every other manner of thing that might attempt to impede, wound, or poison you.

Which is to say that in my experience a walk in the woods is almost always terrible, but never more so than when accompanied by an unstoppered girl of thirteen summers.

Having once been a young girl, I know that such creatures are routinely impossible, and that alone would have convinced me not to share a journey of more than four strides with one. But the lass beside me was beyond anxious, all jittery twitches and fearful looks as she led me nowhere I wanted to go quicker than I wanted to get there.

Still, my purse was as empty as my stomach, and the promise of coin makes idiots of us all. So, I pulled my cloak tight, grit my teeth, and walked through the damp woods alongside the bothersome girl.

She glanced at me for the thousandth time, face riddled with more freckles than any other three people combined. “You sure you can do this?”

“No,” I said, nearly tripping over a mossy log hidden in the undergrowth of what she insisted was a path, despite all evidence to the contrary. “Certainty is the province of fools and the dead.”

She wide-eyed one of the scars that was slowly slithering across my cheek. Most people couldn’t help looking, especially if one surfaced or slipped under my skin right in front of them, but they generally tried to disguise their revolted fascination. Not so young girls, having not yet mastered perfidy. “But you’re a . . . mender, ain’t you?”

I touched one of the roving scars. “I would have thought that much obvious, girl. Unless you neglected to mention that you’re blind, in which case you’re doing a remarkable job navigating this impassable goat track.”

She pulled her eyes away just in time to duck under a dripping branch. “But you’re a good mender, I mean. Heard tell you was good. And cheap.”

“Ahh, good and cheap—qualities that so rarely sit well together.”

She didn’t know what to do with that. “My da’, he’s in a bad way. Real bad. Told you as much.”

“So, you did,” I said, sidestepping a sinkhole. “Earnestly. Repeatedly. It’s why I am accompanying you, after all.”

Well, that and the coin.

Her chin trembled and her eyes were full of the worst kind of wet longing. “I need to know you can fix him is all. Need to know you can do it.” She sniffed and wiped her face with the back of a ragged sleeve, surely angry for losing what little composure she had. “Are you going to make him right again or ain’t you?”

I took a deep breath and instantly regretted it, nearly swallowing a cloud of gnats. If it had just been her feelings to consider I would have lied. Instantly. But it was also a question of managing expectations, and my livelihood (and quite possibly life) depended on that.

“I’ve been severing or mending flesh and bone for two of your lifetimes, girl, and I’m possessed of considerable healcraft when I have a mind to, at least when not dulled by drink or indifference,” I said. “So I know what I speak of when I say I can’t promise to do this thing before seeing him because it would be either empty or cruel, neither better than the other.” The girl’s face fell further, so I laid a hand on her shoulder. “But I will do my level best to mend your father, that much I can pro—”

“Yeah, well,” she jerked free like I’d branded her, flushing around the freckles, mouth twisting into an ugly curve, “your level best ain’t getting you no kind of nothing, just so we’re clear, not unless you heal him. You get payment after you fix my da’ up. Then and only then. You hear me, witch?”

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REVIEW: Echo Cycle by Patrick Edwards

A dystopian reimagining of a Europe falling apart, Echo Cycle is a novel in a class of its own. Patrick Edwards draws a vivid image of what could happen to a future after Brexit, the separation of the United Kingdom from the rest of Europe after the crumbling of the European Union. The reader is thrust into the story with a prologue, narrating a school trip to Rome before the borders are fully sealed. Winston Monk, unhappy and bullied, finds out his dreams have been shattered, and runs away, only to find himself in ancient instead of modern Rome.

From that point forward, the narrative springs back and forth between 68 CE and 2070, between the Roman Empire and a new Europe showing eerie similarities to that Empire. Just as the title suggests, Echo Cycle twists around the life and experiences of Winston Monk, both in past and present. Crucially, he is a gay man, and his complicated relationship with his lover, the former slave Sporus, forms the centre of these cycles. While Monk’s life in the past is not easy, his return to the narrative present is harder still. He arrives at a time of diplomatic tension, at the same time as a British mission to reestablish contact. He encounters his school friend, Lindon Banks, now envoy to the mission, and together they inadvertently spark a tinderbox millennia in the making…

One of the best books I’ve read this year, Echo Cycle features a clear and compelling writing style, distinct voices fitting the different points of view. At the start of the book, the switch between points of view did happen rather quickly and without much signposting, but the reader is soon able to find their bearings and get lost in the story. The characters are expertly crafted, nuanced and deliciously morally corrupt. The reader has reason to feel with most of them – Nero is and forever will be a bastard – and the villain figure itself is fighting a greater evil. It is great reading material and these characterisations make it all the more harrowing.

Another great strength of this book is its basis in meticulous research. The elements taken from history are well-embedded and ring true, with ancient Rome being evoked through details interspersed in the narrative. Many novels throw historical elements in the reader’s face, but Patrick Edwards manages to weave them into the story as needed rather than window dressing. The world-building for the narrative present is just as excellent. The Latin-speaking European Confederacy is truly scary, and I personally hope that Europe and Britain get their shit together in time to prevent such fracturing from happening.

If you are looking for a thrilling read, evoking harrowing feelings and surprising you with a not-so-wholesome gay relationship (Well done,

Titan, just letting it stand and not mentioning it in any marketing material, this level of acceptance and matter of course is what we

need!), check out Echo Cycle by Patrick Edwards. A wholehearted five of five stars from me! Many thanks to Sarah Mather and Titan Books for providing me with a free review copy in exchange for this honest review.

Buy Echo Cycle by Patrick Edwards

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REVIEW: An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard seems like a straightforward dark magic story, but it is anything but. If you are just reading the description of this story, on the surface it looks like a pretty common plotline about magic users and magic competition. An urban fantasy story set in the already magical New York City. But what you don’t know, and you learn in the first few pages of this novel is that it is so much more than that. This is a dark and nuanced story involving political machinations, abuse of power, and privilege.

Those who have the power abuse those who are considered expendable.

The story opens with a seemingly innocent, but still amazing feat of magic. Sydney, the stories protagonist lifts cars with magic, “The cars around her, as one, lifted gracefully into the air. Sydney held them there, rust-stained taxis and sleek black sedans with tinted windows, courier vans and a tour bus blaring the opening number of the latest Broadway hit. Ten feet above the ground, floating through the intersection like some bizarre migration of birds. A smile stretched, bright and wild, across her face. If the people in the cars could have seen it, they might have called it exhilaration. They might have called it joy.” Was it joy or was it a necessity? We won’t know till the very end of Sydney’s journey.

This story has a multiple POV narrative. Often authors fail to write definitive voices when using this narrative style, but Kat Howard’s characters are clear and definable from one another. Sydney goes through a bit of a badass transition into an incredible force of will and magic. She will change society and win The Turning (a magic competition) or die in the process.  The Turning itself, takes on a type of dark mob war mentality. We have Ian formerly of House Merlin, who plays a good counterpart to Sydney. Laurent, the man who is highers Sydney to represent him in The Turning is also a force of good in the story. It is refreshing and wonderful to have a story that is mostly trope free. Sydney is a badass. Just that. She doesn’t need anyone to save her nor make ridiculous mistakes that are out of her character for the sake of literary convention. No. She is just a badass. I loved it, and you will too.

The narrative and plot arc are fast-paced. The story comes at you in the first chapter or so and doesn’t stop. The narrative takes place over a short amount of time so this helps keep up the action.

I’ve read quite a lot of Urban Fantasy and it is one of my favorite genres. I can say this is one of the better books I have read representing the genre. I am certainly looking forward to a second book to continue Sydney’s story. Good characters, great world-building, interesting magic system. You can’t go wrong.

Buy An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard

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REVIEW: The Returning by Damien Black

I received a review copy of The Returning: A Cautionary Tale From The Mercenary Realms in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank Damien Black.

The Returning is an exciting, bloody and gritty, revenge-focused novella by the talented Damien Black. These 25,000 words follow Yarka Karkov. We join him in revenant/ undead form as he is burying his own corpse. Two nights ago he was betrayed by an innkeeper to Crumlov Silkhand and his gang of outlaws. He was taken unawares and was whipped out of town to an agonising death. His partner and love Jenna also played a part in his downfall. For all who betrayed him, there will be a reckoning.

“The preachermen told how a revenant was a vengeful ghost, sent back to earth by the Unseen to right the imbalance caused by their unjust deaths. But to hell with what the priests said.”

In life, Karkov was a soldier who then became a reeve. He followed certain Dukes’ orders to keep the peace yet was also assigned to hunt down vagabonds and other criminals. He has the necessary talents to track, maim and kill his enemies. Being undead actually enhances Karkov and aids him in his mission. For example, he has double his normal strength in death and in sunlight, he cannot be seen which aids the ease of tracking and stealth. It isn’t all good news for our antihero. He gradually starts to lose his memories, has moments where he completely blacks out yet also has some disturbingly clear flashback segments which can be quite haunting. He’s pretty well crafted with surprising depth to say that this novella is only about 80-pages long.

The majority of the narrative is the shortish journey through this Western-tinted fantasy world to find, and hopefully murder Silkhand and his cronies. The novella is split into about 8 engagements and events along the way. Crossing paths with his former love and conversing with a fellow ghost who seems to know more about Karkov than he is comfortable with, are just a couple of examples.

The ending is fulfilling and was not what I predicted at all. It’s quite fascinating reflecting on The Returning when the novella has been finished and I completely reanalysed certain sections in retrospect. The Returning is a fast-paced and well-written fantasy revenge drama that ranks pretty high on the grimdark scale and was just a fun, quick read. If you decide you may check out this bite-size grimdark tale, I believe The Returning is free if you join the author’s mailing list. Recommended.

Buy The Returning: A Cautionary Tale From The Mercenary Realms

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REVIEW: Altered Carbon Season 2 from Netflix

Altered Carbon is probably one of my all-time favorite cyberpunk series, both book and television adaptation. I felt the idea of adapting the original novel was impossible given its stunning vision of the future and multiple bodies for a single character yet somehow Netflix managed to prove me wrong. The beautiful and terrifying world of Post-Stack humanity, where everyone can live forever if they can afford it, was amazing to see realized. There was talk that the show was a bit sleazy given its copious nudity, violence, and nihilism but I felt that played into the larger themes of Richard K. Morgan’s seminal work. I was excited about a second season and eager to see how they adapted Broken Angels.

Well, unfortunately, they didn’t adapt Broken Angels for the second season. I’m not going to be one of those fans who complains about deviations from the book but it is important to say this is not the fascinating Vietnam in Space-esque story of the second book but a loose adaptation of Woken Furies, the third book. Accent on the loose. I really enjoyed Broken Angels so seeing it skipped was a disappointment. It doesn’t help that I also feel that Woken Furies was the weakest of the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy. This is also going to be only one of several complaints as not only do I feel the second season didn’t live up to the books, but it didn’t live up to the first season either. There’s some good but I should warn people that they need to manage their expectations.

The premise for the second season of the show is that Takeshi Kovacs (Anthony Mackie) is kidnapped from his latest location and transported back to his home world of Harlan’s World. The corporate elite of the planet are feuding with the terrorist remnants of Quellcrist Falconer’s forces but have managed to make an uneasy truce, Takeshi’s employer is killed early but not before he discovers that Quellcrist is still alive, In the show-universe, Qella and Takeshi had an epic romance so he is doing his best to try to track her down in order to reunite. This is a quest that takes him against the local Protectorate forces as well as revolutionaries. His only friends are his Edgar Poe A.I. (Chris Conners) from Season One and a local Yakuza boss.

The biggest issue of the show is the fact that Takeshi Kovac’s character bears little resemblance to the one from Season One. Joel Kinnamen and Anthony Mackie were always going to have different reads on the character but the one in Season Two is just shallower. Season One’s Takeshi was a mixture of charm, cynicism, and sociopathy that still had his own rule. Season Two’s writing emphasizes Takeshi as a brooding angry badass who is utterly in love with a long dead woman. It’s also unfortunate that he’s lost some of his compassion for the little guy as Season Two’s Takeshi treats Edgar as a disposable tool despite the man’s persistent friendship. Rather than a complex series of resentment and envy, Takeshi bluntly says how much he hates Meths. In simple terms, the protagonist is just not nearly as likable or interesting as the first time around.

Another major issue is the fact that the plot changes of Season One from the books have also made the social satire almost absent. In the books, the Quellists are an anti-capitalist anti-authoritarian freedom fighter group that verges on being terrorists. In the series, they are against the immortality of Stack technology and have no stated opinion on capitalism. Much of the social satire of the books survived in the criticism of the Meths’ disgusting wealth in Season One but now it’s just Takeshi hating them for being old rather than old as well as ungodly rich. I never liked Quellcrist Falconer in Season One and making her the central focus of Takeshi’s quest hurt matters since she never approaches Kristen Ortega for chemistry with Takeshi (either version – even a brief dream sequence has Anthony Mackie show much more with Martha Higareda than other characters);.

The atmosphere of Harlan’s World lacks a lot of the description from the previous season. It was supposedly a mixture of Slavic and Japanese culture but there’s not that many Asian characters in this season. While the Yakuza play a role, they seem to be the only source of Asian characters in the show. Season One managed to constantly underline the divide between the super-rich and the super-poor with the working poor caught in the middle. It was a world of decadent excess and monumental suffering that seems to lack all its previous grit. The showrunners have already stated that they cut dramatically back on the nudity and violence for this season–which is just underlining how tame this feels compared to Season One.

The only character I really think manages to shine in this season is Edgar. Cursed with the A.I. equivalent of Alzheimer’s, he’s devoted himself to the service of Takeshi only to start realizing that he’s taken for granted. Edgar has more humanity than most humans and remains the most likable character from the previous season. I cared about what happened to him even though I kind of wanted him to abandon Takeshi to find better friends. That isn’t really a very good attitude to have for your main character.

In conclusion, Altered Carbon Season Two is more miss than hit. Focusing the story on Takeshi’s epic love for Quellcrist Falconer was a mistake. In simple terms, I didn’t care about their relationship and preferred him with the previous season’s love interest. I also don’t buy the show’s politics since Takeshi is against immortality in-universe to the point of becoming a terrorist but uses Stack technology all the time. The show doesn’t have the same grit, violence, or sexuality that made it a budding grimdark classic. I don’t think Mackie does a bad job, but he’s been given a bad script for the season and kept from showing all of Takeshi’s mammoth range. I’d given this one a skip. Which sucks if you’re a cyberpunk fan in general or Altered Carbon fan in particular.

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REVIEW: Fate of the Fallen by Kel Kade

Kel Kade’s book, Fate of the Fallen, is a book of tropes turned on their head and flipped all around. For example, how many books have you read about a small-town farming boy (and his trusty best friend) that learns that he has a magical destiny and is fated to either destroy or save the world? How about that farming boy that was raised by a wise old man who happens to be a wizard. And that wizard has kept it a secret all these years. These tropes are here, sort of.

Here is where this story gets good…

Kade has taken these time old formulas and flipped them all around. Instead of the small-town boy fulfilling the prophecy, he dies in the second chapter. His best friend has to take his head and do all he can do to help save his friends and family. Imagine if Frodo died, and Samwise Gamgee had to take over his quest alone while carrying Frodo’s magically bespelled. The old male father figure wizard trope is instead replaced by a female who is a witch. It entirely changes the tone of the story, for the better. And the prophecy is going to come true no matter what. No matter what.

I can’t tell you much more about the plot because this is a story that even merely alluding to events in the story that will ruin it. Just know that hackneyed tropes are thrown out the window for fresh and bright storytelling that is enthralling and heartbreaking at the same time. There was more than one time during this story, where I had to put the book down and say out loud, “Damn.” 

The side characters are just as exciting as the main protagonist, and I enjoyed the interactions and reactions that Kade has written. The dialog and prose of the story flow from moment to moment but is not jam-packed with so much action and detail that the reader gets tired. It is just enough to keep you only slightly breathless, but always wanting more. Another thing is this story is funny as hell. It had me guffawing and howling a couple of times. Kade really taps into the snark on this one.

Fate of the Fallen is a story that I just loved. It is everything a reader wants out of a fantasy romp. It has great characters, exciting twists, funny dialog, and a protagonist that you want to know more about. Definitely one of the best books I have read this year and I can’t wait to read more from Kade.

Buy Fate of the Fallen by Kel Kade

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