Sarah Chorn's Blog, page 78

Books I’m Eyeing

This week has been insane. The Shattered Worlds project was announced. I wrote about 3,000 words and then deleted every last one of them. I have yet to get myself to write another word. It’s an odd thing to be on this side of publishing. It is making me realize that there is a lot of strain and stress on authors that I never really appreciated before. It is also making me realize that time management is key, and I need to find that ONE THING that will get me to write even when I feel like inspiration is a foreign country I’ve never been to.

It’s hard. A lot harder than I anticipated. There is a kind of “hard” that planning can’t prepare you for, and that’s where I’m at. It can be exhilarating, but I also feel very out of my depth. Sink or swim. That’s how this sort of thing works. In the meantime, while I learn whether or not I’m drowning, I will continue learning a lot. I’ve already learned so much. This, no matter what happens with it, is a priceless experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.

This week has been pretty cool for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons that really sticks out for me is the fact that yesterday I was invited onto the Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast to interview Elizabeth Bear. Elizabeth Bear is one of my favorite authors, and I was absolutely star struck the whole time. I have a list of authors I’d love to talk to for an hour, and she was very close to the top of it, so doing that podcast was a huge dream come true for me. I basically hijacked the conversation and talked to her for an hour about… well, lots of stuff. The podcast will go live on April 29th. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you.

Special Needs in Strange Worlds has been Metafiltered. I’ve been assured that Metafilter is a cool thing, and I should feel all fuzzy inside that my column managed to find its way there. So I’m bragging because I can. Speaking of Special Needs in Strange Worlds, you can pop on over and read Michael J. Sullivan’s column called Being Atypical in Hollow World. 

The winner of my Stone Cold giveaway was chosen. Congratulations to:

Colin S. from Ontario, Canada. 

I have an international giveaway going for Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan. Click here to find out how to enter.

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I haven’t managed to read as much this week as I usually do, due to the Shattered Worlds thing. I have, however, managed to finish The Three by Sarah Lotz. I’m really not big into horror, but sometimes a horror book just works for me. I tend to like the ones that are less “Boo!” scary and more psychological, and The Three has that in spades. My review should post soon.

My brain is kind of bogged down right now, so when When We Wake by Karen Healey showed up, I jumped on it right away. It is a young adult social SciFi book. The more I read social SciFi, the more I am realizing that it is probably my genre of choice right now. When We Wake is my first foray into the young adult side of social SciFi, but I am enjoying it quite a bit. Thought provoking and immensely readable. I am hooked.

Expiration Day by William Campbell Powell is a book that I mentioned on a Books I’m Eyeing post a few weeks ago. I managed to snag a copy from Netgalley. I have to admit, the book started out pretty ho-hum. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it. Then a (kind of predictable) plot twist happened and now Powell has my attention. There are some issues with structure and characterization that I’m finding, but overall I’m really enjoying this well written book about what makes us human.

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Now onto Books I’m Eyeing. This is a weekly feature where I highlight the books other people have talked about, and the websites that deserve a ton of attention for their amazing content.

What books are you eyeing?

The Bees – Laline Paull

Discovery blamed on: My Bookish Ways

About the Book

The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut set in an ancient culture where only the queen may breed and deformity means death.

Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening the hive’s survival, her curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw but her courage and strength are an asset. She is allowed to feed the newborns in the royal nursery and then to become a forager, flying alone and free to collect pollen. She also finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers mysteries about the hive that are both profound and ominous.

But when Flora breaks the most sacred law of all—daring to challenge the Queen’s fertility—enemies abound, from the fearsome fertility police who enforce the strict social hierarchy to the high priestesses jealously wedded to power. Her deepest instincts to serve and sacrifice are now overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce maternal love that will bring her into conflict with her conscience, her heart, her society—and lead her to unthinkable deeds.

Thrilling, suspenseful and spectacularly imaginative, The Bees gives us a dazzling young heroine and will change forever the way you look at the world outside your window

—

The Humans – Matt Haig

Discovery blamed on: Civilian Reader

About the Book

“I was not Professor Andrew Martin. That is the first thing I should say. He was just a role. A disguise. Someone I needed to be in order to complete a task.”

The narrator of this tale is no ordinary human—in fact, he’s not human at all. Before he was sent away from the distant planet he calls home, precision and perfection governed his life. He lived in a utopian society where mathematics transformed a people, creating limitless knowledge and immortality.

But all of this is suddenly threatened when an earthly being opens the doorway to the same technology that the alien planet possesses. Cambridge University professor Andrew Martin cracks the Reimann Hypothesis and unknowingly puts himself and his family in grave danger when the narrator is sent to Earth to erase all evidence of the solution and kill anyone who has seen the proof. The only catch: the alien has no idea what he’s up against.

Disgusted by the excess of disease, violence, and family strife he encounters, the narrator struggles to pass undetected long enough to gain access to Andrew’s research. But in picking up the pieces of the professor’s shattered personal life, the narrator sees hope and redemption in the humans’ imperfections and begins to question the very mission that brought him there.

—

The Memories of Sky – Robert Reed

Discovery blamed on: Andrea at SF Signal

About the Book

Diamond is an odd little boy, a seemingly fragile child – who proves to be anything but. An epic story begins when he steps into the world his parents have so carefully kept him from, a world where gigantic trees each house thousands of humans and another human species, the papio, rule its far edges. Does Diamond hold the promise to remake one species and, perhaps, change all of the Creation?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Happier Dead – Ivo Stourton

Discovery blamed on: The Speculative Scotsman

About the Book

In the very near future the rich are able to extend their lives indefinitely, but the price of eternal youth is one that they can get others to pay. A political thriller, crime novel and stunning SF story.

The Great Spa sits on the edge of London, a structure visible from space. The power of Britain on the world stage rests in its monopoly on “The Treatment”, a medical procedure which can transform the richest and most powerful into a state of permanent physical youth. The Great Spa is the place where the newly young immortals go to revitalise their aged souls. In this most important and secure of facilities, a murder of one of the guests threatens to destabilise the new order, and DCI Oates of the Metrolpolitan police is called in to investigate. In a single day Oates must unravel the secrets behind the Treatment and the long ago disappearance of its creator, passing through a London riven with disorder and corruption, where adverts are transmitted directly into the imagination. As a night of widespread rioting takes hold of the city he moves towards a final climax which could lead to the destruction of the Great Spa, his own ruin, and the loss of everything he holds most dear.

Hollow World – Michael J. Sullivan + INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY

About the Book

Ellis Rogers is an ordinary man who is about to embark on an extraordinary journey. All his life he has played it safe and done the right thing, but when faced with a terminal illness, he’s willing to take an insane gamble. He’s built a time machine in his garage, and if it works, he’ll face a world that challenges his understanding of what it means to be human, what it takes to love, and the cost of paradise. He could find more than a cure for his illness; he might find what everyone has been searching for since time began…but only if he can survive Hollow World.

Welcome to the future and a new sci-fantasy thriller from the bestselling author of The Riyria Revelations.

384 pages (paperback)

Published on April 15, 2014

Published by Tachyon Publications

Author’s webpage

This book was sent for me to review by the author.

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As soon as I heard about Hollow World I jumped on the bandwagon. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love it when authors take a left turn and tries something absolutely new and different. Sullivan is known for his epic fantasy, so a time travel/futuristic SciFi is absolutely different than his usual work.

He had my attention.

The thing is, despite the fact that this is an absolutely different genre than Sullivan fans will expect, there are still some qualities here that are owned by the author. For example, Sullivan excels at telling an action packed story set in a huge world that is slowly expanded upon in the periphery of the story. Also, he does a great job at developing characters you can really cling to. And all of that is evident in Hollow World.

Hollow World tells the story of Ellis, an everyman in every sense of the word. He’s into middle age, he’s got a wife and he’s looking at retirement. He also has a chronic heart condition he doesn’t want to tell his family about. That last little touch really adds to his character in a lot of surprising ways. For example, with the chronic heart condition, Ellis truly has a “this is my last shot at life so let me live it” attitude. He is willing to take chances that he otherwise wouldn’t.

This novel has a lot of heart, and it also has plenty of adventure (signature Sullivan-style). However, it has a lot of deeper notes. Sullivan does a great job at exploring issues that will strike most of us at our hearts. What make us human? How do we connect with each other? What is our place on this giant rock hurdling through space? Having Ellis be a true outsider in a world where exterior individuality has basically been washed out makes the search for these answers that much more poignant. The fact that Ellis could be your next door neighbor, or any of us, makes all of these themes that Sullivan is playing with strike home.

And he does all of this without losing that fun, fast, furious, and adventurous edge I absolutely love him for.

Ellis isn’t the only character in this book. The other two that readers will become familiar with are Pax and Alva. While Pax outwardly looks exactly like everyone else, he is truly individual. It’s interesting how, once the author takes away all outward identifying features, the personality traits become so much more important. In a lot of ways, that’s what Sullivan is doing throughout the novel. He’s stripping everyone and everything down to its bare roots and making readers look at the core of who we are and how our actions affect each other. He does it with skill and finesse, and while I’d classify this as social science fiction, he never really hits readers over the head with it. Into this mix is an AI that grew on me and became a person and independent personality in its own right, and some memorable secondary characters.

The interesting thing about Hollow World is that it is told in a sort of old school SciFi style, an Orwellian time-travel tale with a mystery at its core. I never really thought I’d be into that sort of thing, and in all honesty, I’m not. That being said, Sullivan pulls it off. Hollow World is intensely readable, and the old-school feel of it felt true to the characters, and the story Sullivan is trying to tell. This novel isn’t about flash and fancy gizmos and gadgets. It’s about humanity, and the things inside us that make us human and interconnected. The flash and tech would obscure the core messages, and I appreciate Sullivan for keeping it fairly simple when simple is pretty hard to obtain in SciFi.

Hollow World is very well done. The mystery became a little transparent close to the end, but I didn’t care because everything else in the book was working so well. Hollow World is packed full of emotion and adventure and filled with characters that become part of you. Hollow World will make you think, but its fast pace and simplistic mannerisms also make this an easy novel to devour surprisingly fast. It will stick with you after you’re finished with it.

I, for one, sincerely hope Sullivan revisits this world.

5/5 stars

 

Bonus:  

A worldwide giveaway!

 

1.    Enter by leaving a comment under this post.
2.    You can enter until midnight mountain time on April 23.
3.    Only one entry per person.
I will contact the winner via email.

 

Good luck to all who enter!

Unwrapped Sky – Rjurik Davidson

About the Book

Caeli-Amur: an ancient city perched on white cliffs overlooking the sea; a city ruled by three Houses, fighting internecine wars; a city which harbours ancient technology and hidden mysteries. But things are changing in Caeli-Amur. Ancient minotaurs arrive for the traditional Festival of the Sun. The slightly built New-Men bring their technology from their homeland. Wastelanders stream into the city hideously changed by the chemical streams to the north. Strikes break out in the factory district.

In a hideout beneath the city, a small group of seditionists debate ways to overthrow the Houses. How can they rouse the citizens of the city? Should they begin a campaign of terror? Is there a way to uncover the thaumaturgical knowledge that the Houses guard so jealously? As the Houses scramble to maintain their rule, it becomes clear that things will change forever in Caeli-Amur.

432 pages (hardcover)

Published on April 15, 2014

Published by Tor

Author’s webpage 

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

Occasionally a book will pass my line of sight that will prove to me just how much cover art really does matter, despite how hard I try for it not to make an impact on my reading choices. Unwrapped Sky is one of those. I wanted to read this book purely because of the cover art, which reminds me a bit of the cover art on Elizabeth Bear’s Eternal Sky series. It’s dramatic and dreamy, full of colors and mystery and it just makes me want to know what sort of an incredible book was written to spark that sort of genius from the cover artist.

And minotaurs. How in the hell can I pass over a book with minotaurs in it? Impossible. It cannot be done.

The cover art sets the stage for a dramatic book, and Davidson does not disappoint. Set in a world with just the right amount of steampunk and deep undertones of mythology, Unwrapped Sky is one of those books that will make an impact on you, no matter who you are. The city of Caeli-Amur is vast and sprawling, a hotbed of political agenda, cultural clashes, and ideas that spark revolutionaries. Mixed into this are the plights of the rich and the poor, and a war between ruling houses. There is plenty here to keep anyone interested.

Caeli-Amur is one of those cities that I love in my fantasy. It is rich and layered. There is a lot about the city and the people who live there that you learn in bits and pieces and have to put together as you read. Unwrapped Sky does the puzzle-type revelations really well. Davidson will drop a clue here, and an important detail there, and you, as the reader, will need to put them all together. This gives the reader some leeway in the formation of insights and opinions. There is a lot of room here for readers to gain unique insights into the book depending on who they are, and where they are coming from when they read it.

Books that mean something different to everyone are a real treat.

The magic system, known as Thaumatugcy fit almost effortlessly into the world Davidson created, and is interesting enough, especially in the context of that world, to get the mental gears moving as you read. There is a lot of history that is hinted at, or poked at briefly. Much like Steven Erikson’s Malazan series, this isn’t just a surface-level world. There is a lot below the surface, and plenty of the philosophical discussions, and the breaking off of citizens into different belief groups reflects that. The reaction of the people in this book to the events that take place give Unwrapped Sky a level of depth and a realistic quality that absolutely worked for me.

Unwrapped Sky follows a few primary characters. Some of them took some time to grow on me, while others were interesting right away. Readers can expect that sort of thing with any book that has multiple perspectives. Eventually all the individual threads of the novel are drawn together in an almost effortless fashion. It was quite interesting to see just how deftly Davidson wove together the threads of his plot and neatly tied off the ending. Despite the fact that some characters were more interesting than others, it was absolutely fascinating to see how Davidson turned so many smaller stories into one gigantic picture so gracefully.

And speaking of grace, this book has some absolutely stunning prose. The writing neatly ties the package and makes Unwrapped Sky something truly special.

Unwrapped Sky is one of those books that just worked for me on almost every level. Some readers might shy away from it, as this book does have quite a lot of layers and things to unpeel as you go, but for the most part, speculative fiction fans should add this to their to-be-read pile. Unwrapped Sky is stunningly written, and the world is so lush, vibrant and full of nuances and detail that it absolutely enchanted me. The characters are easy to like, and their stories are interesting. And minotaurs. SERIOUSLY. MINOTAURS. Unwrapped Sky is a nice mixture of myth, lore, and something completely new and different and absolutely worth your time.

This book is a journey, and that’s the kind of book I like the most. It’s one of those novels that I had to savor and read slowly, and I just know I will catch something different every time I read it. What a gift.

 

5/5 stars

ANNOUNCEMENT: A Book, A Deal, And Collaboration

April is going to be pretty crazy over here.

Well, to be fair, a few months are going to be pretty crazy, but it is going to start with April. Today, to be exact.

A little while ago, Dave Robison approached me about a project he is spearheading. About twelve years ago Dave started to build this world, which he has called “The Shattered Worlds.” He talked about said world on a podcast and the people at the new Antimatter Press contacted him and said something along the lines of, “Yo! That world you built is hardcore and we think it would be a perfect place to set a shared world story. We want you to get four other authors together to write a book set in that world. We want to publish it.” (I envision them saying this to someone beat-boxing in the background.)

Or something like that.

Fast forward a little bit. Dave contacted me and asked if I’d like to be involved. Why he wanted to hook my half-lit, dusty star to his wagon, I have no idea. Anyway, he talked to me about the project and the world, and I started getting ideas almost instantly so I said, “HELL YES.” When I got the Letter of Agreement from Antimatter Press, I just about died. That is one letter I’ve been wanting to see my whole life.

We start writing TODAY. The first episode of this book is projected to publish at the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015.

The other authors, who far eclipse me, are:

Dave Robison

Mercedes Merdock Yardley

Colin F. Barnes

Alasdair Stuart

To be published by Antimatter Press.

This project is really unique in a lot of ways. Shared worlds are always interesting and they present the challenges of bringing together multiple points of view. After many Skype conversations and email, I believe we have worked out a storyline and format that will make all of our unique perspectives and styles a strength to the book.

Secondly, this project is unique because it isn’t really one book, per se. No, instead we are writing roughly ten novellas, each which will all be “episodes” of the overarching story we are telling, and each of us will be writing about two episodes total. Our last skype call was us hammering out a story structure (thank god Alasdair is a pro at that sort of thing because I sure as hell don’t do well in that area). We have been spending plenty of time building our characters and working on outlines and structures for the first episode we are all writing (which we start writing today). Yesterday the lightening of inspiration hit me. For the first time in my life, I actually named my character (I absolutely fail at names) and Dave liked the name I picked. Fancy that. She (my character) is incredibly real to me, and I’m very excited to put in some time on the keyboard writing her story because I know that will make her even more real.

Anyway, We start writing today. We are hoping to pound this thing out really pretty quickly, as we have deadlines that are coming at us hard and fast. Then there’s the exciting editing phase, and all that. However, having played around in publishing for four years now, I know that deadlines are set and rarely met. Things will change. We will still get this done fast, but I don’t know if we will get this done as fast as the powers that be would like us to, which is absolutely fine with me. Quality over quantity.

All of us in this writing group have strengths. Dave has built the world, and he seems to excel at the big picture of things (I think I do better with small details). Alasdair is a madman when you get him to write, or structure anything. He has this scientific precision with his approach to writing that makes me endlessly jealous. Furthermore, we all know that man can write. Colin is also a superb writer who is bringing plenty of experience with shared projects to the table. His experience gives him insights into this project that a lot of us would probably miss otherwise. I truly appreciate that. Mercedes has this sort of infectious excitement that really flames me. It’s hard to talk to her and not feel completely excited about what we are doing. Add to that all of her incredible books, and the fact that she is becoming a household speculative fiction name, and I’m a little star struck.

Then you have me. I really have nothing to show for anything except for plenty of writing saved on my laptop that no one has seen, and the fact that I read a couple hundred books a year so I’ve got a speculative fiction library floating around in my head. That might be helpful, who knows.

Yeah, I have an inadequacy complex going on, but I know that this will work. All of our strengths balance each other out and diminishes all of our individual weaknesses. I’ve already learned so much from what we’ve done so far. I look forward to learning so much more, and I have to admit, it will be really cool when this is published.

So stay tuned. All of that is going to make all of this (Bookworm Blues) kind of insane. If you’ve been asking yourself why I’ve been doing so many giveaways, it’s because I’m opening up some room for me to NOT write on here so I can write on this project. I have more giveaways planned, some author interviews in the works and much more. I will still review, of course, but there will be plenty of days that I’ll need to work on this book rather than write a review.

I’m sure you understand.

And, of course, I will keep all of you lovely people updated.

(Side note: We have a working title for this, which I think we all really love, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to share it so I’ll put it in the pile of things that will be talked about later). 

GIVEAWAY: The Ophelia Prophecy – Sharon Lynn Fisher

Yes, folks, I have TWO giveaways going right now.

(To enter my giveaway for Stone Cold, click here).

There really is a reason I am doing so many giveaways this month, and soon (very soon) I will tell you what it is. I assure you, it is a damn good reason.

That being said, I’m giving away THREE copies of The Ophelia Prophecy to three lucky winners. If you want to see what I thought of this book, check out my review here.

Here are the rules:

1. Giveaway open to residents of Canada and the US only.

2. To enter, leave a comment under this post.

3. You must enter by Sunday, April 20 at Midnight, Mountain Time.

4. I will contact the three winners by email.

Good luck to all who enter!

Books I’m Eyeing

Alright, folks. Here’s another edition of Books I’m Eyeing for your reading pleasure… or something.

First things first, the winner of the epic Eternal Sky Trilogy giveaway was

Emily from New York, New York.

Congratulations, Emily!! And thanks to everyone who entered. This was my most heavily entered giveaway in the history of my website, coming in with a whopping 96 entries. Holy cow!!

And there’s another giveaway going on right now for Stone Cold by Devon Monk. I loved this book. You can read more about the giveaway and etc here.

Also, a quick aside. One of my near and dear speculative fiction friends, who is also a fantastic author, is trying to get from his home in Bulgaria to Clarion. Haralambi Markov is a hell of a guy, and it would be great to see him splash his way into speculative fiction. In a progressive genre like this, I think it is important to add diverse voices, and Haralambi has that in spades. Learn more about him and his quest to get to Clarion here.

Now, these are the books I’ve been working on this week.

This week has been pretty hard. The books I’ve been flipping between reflect that. Two of them are deep, dark, and thought provoking. The other two are more of the sort that you can enjoy and not think about too hard. I need that right now.

I finished Defenders by Will McIntosh. I think he is officially one of my favorite authors ever. I’m not even lying. Defenders asks some absolutely important questions, and it is just so well done. I mean, wow. Just wow. I’ll gush about it closer to publication date.

I started A Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop. Bishop is a hit or miss author for me, but this series really works for me on multiple levels. It’s really good. I didn’t expect to like it, but I am absolutely loving it. I don’t think A Murder of Crows is quite as strong as the first book in the series (Written in Red) but it is still very, very good.

My progress with The Goblin Emperor is almost at a standstill. Not because it is bad, but because I love the damn thing so much I don’t want it to end. That’s the curse with good books – they always have to end. I tend to want to drag that out.

Check this out. Child of a Hidden Sea is a book that takes place on boats. I really hate books that take place on boats, because I know so little about boats I can’t visualize the books at all. Well, I’m seriously enjoying this one. I love Dellamonica’s writing style. I think I might have to check out her other books, Indigo Springs and Blue Magic next.

Now, onto Books I’m Eyeing

Books I’m Eyeing is a weekly (kind of) post where I point out the books other websites have talked about that caught my attention. This is my way of hopefully directing some traffic to some very deserving websites – and thanking those that run said websites for their stellar content.

What books are you eyeing?

Midnight Riot – Ben Aaronovitch 

Discovery blamed on: Fantasy Review Barn

About the Book

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

—

Coldbrook – Tim Lebbon 

Discovery blamed on: My Bookish Ways

About the Book

THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT HAS CHANGED FOREVER

THE REASON IS COLDBROOK

The facility lay deep in Appalachian Mountains, a secret laboratory called Coldbrook. Its scientists had achieved the impossible: a gateway to a new world. Theirs was to be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, but they had no idea what they were unleashing.

With their breakthrough comes disease and now it is out and ravaging the human population. The only hope is a cure and the only cure and the only cure is genetic resistance: an uninfected person amongst the billions dead.

In the chaos of destruction there is only one person that can save the human race.

But will they find her in time?

—

The Last of the Smoking Bartenders – C.J. Howell

Discovery blamed on: Nerds of a Feather

About the Book

The Last of the Smoking Bartenders follows a drifter named Tom tra­versing the Arizona desert, leaving behind a path of destruction. Living off the grid and aided by a homeless raft guide and a band of meth deal­ing Navajos, he hunts down a terrorist network one Molotov cocktail at a time. But is he deluded? Are they actually killing innocent people? Chased by a beautiful but damaged FBI agent and a crossbow wielding psychopath, Tom must stay one step ahead of his pursuers and save the country he loves, all on less than a dollar a day.

 

—

 

Love is the Law – Nick Mamatas

Discovery blamed on: SF Signal

About the Book

In 1989, punk-rock girl “Golden” Dawn has crafted an outsider’s life combining the philosophies of Communism and Aleister Crowley’s black magic. One fateful day she finds the dead body of her mentor in both politics and magick shot in the head, seemingly a suicide. But Dawn knows there’s more going on than the Long Island cops could ever hope to uncover. In setting out to find the murderer herself, she will encounter dark and twisted truths for which no book, study, or basement show could have prepared her. Award-winning prose author Nick Mamatas crafts a raw, hilarious, original mystery!

 

—

 

The Archived – Victoria Schwab

Discovery blamed on: Twitter

About the Book

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often—violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous—it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

In this haunting, richly imagined novel, Victoria Schwab reveals the thin lines between past and present, love and pain, trust and deceit, unbearable loss and hard-won redemption.

—

Beggars in Spain – Nancy Kress

Discovery blamed on: SF Signal Podcast

About the Book

In this future, some people need no sleep at all. Leisha Camden was genetically modified at birth to require no sleep, and her normal twin Alice is the control. Problems and envy between the sisters mirror those in the larger world, as society struggles to adjust to a growing pool of people who not only have 30 percent more time to work and study than normal humans, but are also highly intelligent and in perfect health.

The Sleepless gradually outgrow their welcome on Earth, and their children escape to an orbiting space station to set up their own society. But Leisha and a few others remain behind, preaching acceptance for all humans, Sleepless and Sleeper alike. With the conspiracy and revenge that unwinds, the world needs a little preaching on tolerance.

 

Stone Cold – Devon Monk + GIVEAWAY

About the Book

This two-book series is set in the Allie Beckstrom universe. It takes place three years after the end of the Allie Beckstrom books. While it stands on its own and can be read without having to read the Allie Beckstrom novels, the experience may be even richer if both series are read.

The latest Broken Magic novel from national bestselling author Devon Monk.

Marked by Life and Death magic, Shame Flynn and Terric Conley are “breakers”—those who can use magic to its full extent. Most of the time, they can barely stand each other, but they know they have to work together to defeat a common enemy—rogue magic user Eli Collins.

Backed by the government, Eli is trying to use magic as a weapon by carving spells into the flesh of innocents and turning them into brainless walking bombs. To stop him, Shame and Terric will need to call on their magic, even as it threatens to consume them—because the price they must pay to wield Life and Death could change the very fate of the world…and magic itself.

368 pages (paperback)

Published on April 1, 2014

Published by Roc

Author’s webpage

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

You know, if you asked me a few years ago if I would ever enjoy urban fantasy books, I would have said hell no. No questions asked. I never would have touched it. But, I try hard to get out of my comfort zone, and I’m glad I do. If I didn’t, I never would have discovered Devon Monk, or her fantastic books, which are urban fantasy. And, I also happen to love them.

Stone Cold is the second book in a spinoff series by Monk (from her Allie Beckstrom series/world). I have to admit, the first book, Hell Bent, in this Broken Magic series actually hooked me so hard it made me give the Allie Beckstrom books a try, which I also enjoyed so much I am having a hard time making myself finish the series (which is the best compliment this bookworm can ever give any series).

Stone Cold is the second book in a two part spinoff series, and it ends with one hell of a bang. This is important for readers because it gives a nice, round conclusion for both Shame, and Allie, in her own way. It’s nice to have a conclusion to things, and what a conclusion this is. That being said, the journey to get to said conclusion is filled with emotional ups and downs, and plenty of tension. Stone Cold for a lot of reasons, will probably pack a hell of a punch for fans of this world.

Shame is a character that has really grown on me, not just because of his biting sarcasm and his don’t-give-a-shit attitude which I absolutely love. The thing that really got me about this series, and about Shame himself, is how well Monk created the magic that he uses. It is so important for authors to balance their magic system with equal “good” points and “bad” points, and it is rare that I see it as well done in urban fantasy as I have seen Monk manage. The thing is, the magic is so much more than something that Shame uses, it actually uses him, and that’s never more clear than in this book. The tug-and-pull relationship between Shame and his magic is absolutely emotionally jarring, and will keep readers on the edge of their seats, and plenty fascinated at the same time.

The plot moves quickly. In fact, it moves so quickly you’ll probably finish this book before you really want to finish it. As I said above, the events move toward one impressive conclusion, and I sincerely hope that Monk revisits this world. I want to know more. I want to see what happens next. That being said, I can also see how this could be a nice ending point for the world in general. There’s a huge BANG at the end, but it leaves everything nicely tied so Monk can easily go onto new worlds and projects.

This duology, and indeed Monk’s writing in general, has taught me is how absolutely wonderful urban fantasy can be. Shame is one of the most tortured, emotionally jarring characters I have read in urban fantasy, but it is balanced nicely by the characters that move through the events with him. His counterpoint, and in many ways, his “balance” of sorts, Terric, is also a fascinating character, and the two play off of each other really well, but it is the intense emotions that thread the novel right under the surface that really got me. So much happens in this book, and so much is left unsaid. It is very powerfully written, and makes an incredible impression on me.

It is kind of sad that this is only a two book series, but on the other hand, it is amazing just how much of a full story Monk can pack into two books. I’m not sure I’d want a series that goes on and on. I feel like after a while the powerful story that Shame and Terric tell would be too watered down. Two books might be painful to readers who are fans of Monk’s world (they will inevitably want more. Hell, I want more.) but sometimes it is nice to see an author go in, gut punch the readers, and get out fast.

Stone Cold left a huge impact on me. Honestly, the world that Monk has created, and her fantastic writing style, coupled with her complex characters and a magic system that is equal parts beneficial and negative, really makes Monk the author that has set the bar for all other urban fantasy authors in my mind. Check this series out. Stone Cold is a powerful conclusion to a series that has really effected me in ways I truly didn’t expect.

 

4/5 stars

 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

 

Giveaway open to residents of the US and Canada only.
To enter, leave a comment under this post.
You have until Wednesday, April 16 at midnight, Mountain Time to enter.
On Thursday, April 17 I will choose the winner and let them know via email that they have won.

 

Good luck to all who enter!

 

Stolen Songbird – Danielle L. Jensen

About the Book

For those who have loved Seraphina and Graceling comes another truly fabulous fantasy…

For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus: escape. Only the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity.

But something unexpected happens while she’s waiting – she begins to fall for the enigmatic troll prince to whom she has been bonded and married. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods – part troll, part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader.

As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch with magic powerful enough to change Trollus forever.

469 pages (paperback)

Published on April 1, 2014

Published by Strange Chemistry

Author’s webpage

This book was provided for me to review by the publisher.

—

Stolen Songbird is the first book in the new young adult Malediction Trilogy. I will admit up front that the entire reason I wanted to read this book was because I think the name of the trilogy is just absolutely amazing. This is also Jensen’s very first book. Huzzuh.

This book tells the story of one Cecile, a young woman coming into her own. Her childhood has been fairly wonderful, despite her mysterious mother who abandoned her for a career on the stage. She has had wonderful tutors, and has a lot of talent. She is also beautiful beyond measure and everyone who sees her loves her. Add to that a dose of cleverness, and you have a pretty stereotypical protagonist that you can probably find in many young adult romantic fantasy books. However, Cecile differs a bit. While her overall description is pretty bland, the truth is, this is a protagonist I ended up enjoying more than I expected, probably as much due to her unique situation, as the creation of her.

The truth is, so much of this book felt like so many other books I’ve read before. The beautiful farmer’s daughter, completely unsuspecting, falls into a situation that lands her in the middle of everything political that goes right over her head until she finds her courage and takes a stand. Love is found and fought for, politics are waded through, and we all pretty much know exactly how it will end at the halfway point. The challenge with books like this isn’t in making me shocked, the challenge is handing me a story that I’ve read before, and keeping me interested and engaged despite that.

For the most part, Jensen really succeeds at that. The city of Trollus is absolutely fascinating. The politics are interesting, and the way society has changed and transformed from their time under the mountain is nothing short of fascinating. I actually deeply enjoyed the thought that Jensen put into her world building, and how all of the cultural nuances effected politics. The city itself was one richly developed interconnected stew of political games that truly affect everything, and I really mean everything. For a young adult book, I was surprised and absolutely enchanted by just how much thought Jensen put into Trollus. Readers will explore many important issues from race relations, cultural clashes, politics, arranged marriages, inbreeding, physical disfigurement and just about everything else. I think it is important for readers to face these issues in the books they read, and I applaud Jensen for filling hers with them in such a graceful, thought provoking way.

Tristan, the prince and love interest of the novel is much like his counterpart Cecile. He is everything you’d expect – an alpha male, dark haired with an air of mystery. He’s got the biting sarcasm that hints at the swoonworthy softie underneath. He’ll appeal to a wide variety of readers. I, however, had an issue with him, which is probably a reflection of my column Special Needs in Strange Worlds. In a world full so many fascinating, complex issues, I felt like Tristan could have reflected that in some way. Most of his relatives are disfigured somehow, so why isn’t he? Instead he’s tall, dark, handsome, and a man that will make anyone want him. For some reason that disturbed me more than it should have. I can see why she made him that way, but really, I would have far more enjoyed a character that reflected the social standing more. And, I have to admit, when so many people around him were disfigured, I found it hard to believe that he wasn’t.

The plot moved at a quick clip. Some events will be more believable than others, but the smooth flow of Jensen’s writing, her incredibly built world, and some interesting twists sprinkled throughout will keep you hooked. Stolen Songbird is a fast, engaging book to read. You really can’t put a price on that. Is it a very surprising book? No, but that’s not why you read it. It’s a lovely coming of age tale with a predictable, but fun romance thrown in, mixed with some truly important social issues. For a first book, and a young adult book, it is very ambitious and it really holds up.

Despite my qualms, Stolen Songbird is well worth your time, and was surprisingly well written, and very well thought out, far beyond what I expected from a first effort. Jensen has a promising career if she stays on the path she’s set herself on. I’m excited to see where she takes this series next.

 

3/5 stars

SF Signal x 2

I’m over on SF Signal twice this week. Lucky you guys.

1. I was on the SF Signal podcast along with some other people who are for more interesting than I am. We talked about accessible SciFi books for newbies in the genre. Click here to listen.

2. Special Needs in Strange Worlds has a truly amazing guest post from the incredible Elizabeth Bear. She talks about writing disabilities. It is powerful and excellent and you really should read it. Click here. 

The Ophelia Prophecy – Sharon Lynn Fisher

About the Book

Our world is no longer our own. We engineered a race of superior fighters — the Manti, mutant humans with insect-like abilities. Twenty-five years ago they all but destroyed us. In Sanctuary, some of us survive. Eking out our existence. Clinging to the past.

Some of us intend to do more than survive.

* * *

Asha and Pax — strangers and enemies — find themselves stranded together on the border of the last human city, neither with a memory of how they got there.

Asha is an archivist working to preserve humanity’s most valuable resource — information — viewed as the only means of resurrecting their society.

Pax is Manti, his Scarab ship a menacing presence in the skies over Sanctuary, keeping the last dregs of humanity in check.

Neither of them is really what they seem, and what humanity believes about the Manti is a lie.

With their hearts and fates on a collision course, they must unlock each other’s secrets and forge a bond of trust before a rekindled conflict pushes their two races into repeating the mistakes of the past.

320 pages (paperback)

Published on April 1, 2014

Published by Tor

Author’s webpage

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

“Sarah, this book is a romance and you hate romance. What the hell? Are you sick?”

No, I’m not sick. Yes, this is a romance, and yes, I read this book and willingly did so. You see, I really enjoyed Fisher’s first book Ghost Planet. Yes, that was romance as well, but it was the first SciFi romance I ever read, and I liked it in a sort of interesting-and-different-flavored-popcorn sort of way. You know what? Everyone needs to eat some popcorn every now and again. When I hit my popcorn mood, I want my snack to be tasty and easy to eat.

The Ophelia Prophecy doesn’t disappoint.

The thing that Fisher really excels at is making a realistic and interesting futuristic, SciFi world, and keeping it easy enough for readers to understand and absorb with very little effort. That’s truly a skill, because science fiction can be so intimidating to so many people. The concepts and, well, science can easily be too much. The Ophelia Prophecy had plenty of SciFi in it – the ships they use to travel, the genetic modifications, much of the technology that is used in daily life by many. However, there are a lot of fantasy elements, too. The city that they end up at has a very fantasy feel to it. A lot of the politics are reminiscent of many secondary fantasy worlds I’ve read. The nice merging of all of this might make The Ophelia Prophecy a nice gateway into SciFi for those interested in giving the genre a shot.

Ash and Pax are both easy characters to like, Ash especially. She’s young and her ignorance has a rather charming quality to it. Pax is, unfortunately, rather stereotypical in this sort of world. While Ash is a human, Pax is a manti. Manti are a sort of insect hybrid species that humans genetically engineered who are now in control of the planet. Pax falls into the alpha male role. He’s powerful and has a long history behind him. That’s fine, despite all of that, I found myself really liking Pax even though he felt a little stale to me.

The book started kind of slow, but the plot built up pretty quickly and started moving very fast in almost no time. It’s easy to sit back and just enjoy the way things are unfolding. That’s a fantastic quality for a book like this to have. That being said, there are some plot elements that just felt too cliché for the incredibly unique world that Fisher created. For example, the alpha-male quality of Pax. While I know that many romance readers like the troubled but alpha male love story thing, I think Fisher could have jazzed him up a bit and made him just as unique as the world he inhabited. Furthermore, the memory loss thing, and the “ah ha” moment behind that important plot point, felt way too forced and convenient for me to believe. Furthermore, the ending felt very rushed, with elements of the story being tied up too neatly, too quickly.

Yes, all of this did impact my level of enjoyment.

But all of that aside, The Ophelia Prophecy still maintained a level of fun that I really needed when I picked it up. The romance is rather heartwarming, and despite my character qualms, I really was rooting for the couple. That’s weird, because typically I really don’t enjoy romance. The Ophelia Prophecy, and Ghost Planet, are both teaching me that it might not be romance I dislike, but how it is used in many of the books the romance is put in – if that makes any sense at all. Fisher makes it easy to sit back and just enjoy the romance that is unfolding. Coupled to the interesting character relationships is a futuristic world that I really want to know more about.

That might be my biggest complaint about this book, and it really is more of a compliment to the author. I really wanted to know more. I really wanted Fisher to immerse me in the world and the politics behind it more than she did. There seems to be so much more she could have showed the reader about the evolution of societies and the conflicts that have fueled the various situations they are now in. In truth, The Ophelia Prophecy felt like more of a short story in a much larger picture than anything else, and I sincerely hope that Fisher grows on it and takes her readers back to the world she’s created and evolves it even more.

So here’s where it sits. I have enjoyed both of Fisher’s books, and I will honestly probably read everything she puts out. Her books, so far, are the exact kind of high-quality-popcorn that I’m looking for when I need a mental vacation. I truly enjoy how she merges science fiction and fantasy into something unique and interesting, but mostly, I want more.

 

3.5/5 stars