“The King of Plagues” by Jonathan Maberry (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Jonathan Maberry Website
Order “The King of Plagues” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Reviews of “Patient Zero” + “The Dragon Factory”
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AUTHOR INFORMATION: Jonathan Maberry is the multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the Pine Deep Trilogy, the YA novel Rot & Ruin, and the Joe Ledger series which was optioned for TV for ABC. His nonfiction work includes Vampire Universe, The Cryptopedia, and Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead. He also writes for Marvel Comics including The Black Panther, Marvel Zombies Return, DoomWar, and Marvel Universe Vs. The Punisher. Upcoming releases including Dust & Decay (Simon & Schuster) and Dead of Night (St. Martin’s).

PLOT SUMMARY: Saturday 09:11 Hours: A blast rocks a London hospital and thousands are dead or injured… 10:09 Hours: Joe Ledger arrives on scene to investigate. The horror is unlike anything he has ever seen. Compelled by grief and rage, Joe rejoins the DMS and within hours is attacked by a hit-team of assassins and sent on a suicide mission into a viral hot zone during an Ebola outbreak.

Soon Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences begin tearing down the veils of deception to uncover a vast and powerful secret society using weaponized versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt to destabilize world economies and profit from the resulting chaos. Millions will die unless Joe Ledger meets this powerful new enemy on their own terms as he fights terror with terror...

CLASSIFICATION: If Patient Zero was like James Rollins’ Sigma Force meets 24 meets Resident Evil/28 Days Later; and The Dragon Factory was like James Rollins’ Sigma Force meets 24 meets G.I. Joe meets James Bond; then The King of Plagues is like James Rollins’ Sigma Force meets 24 meets Dan Brown meets Tom Clancy.

FORMAT/INFO: The King of Plagues is 448 pages long divided over a Prologue, five titled Parts, eighty-nine numbered chapters, forty-seven interludes, and an Epilogue. Narration alternates between the first-person POV of the protagonist Joe Ledger and numerous third-person POVs including heroes (Dr. Circe O’Tree, Mr. Church, Rudy Sanchez, First Sgt. Bradley Sims), villains (the King of Plagues, his Conscience, Rafael Santoro) and minor characters. The King of Plagues is the third Joe Ledger novel after Patient Zero and The Dragon Factory. The King of Plagues is mostly self-contained, so reading the first two books is not a requirement, but recommended.

March 29, 2011 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of The Dragon Factory via St. Martin’s Griffin. The UK edition (see below) will be published on April 12, 2011 via Gollancz.

ANALYSIS: The King of Plagues is the third novel to feature Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences, “a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can’t handle.” The first book, Patient Zero, combined zombie horror with terrorism set to a realistic post-9/11 backdrop. It was a brilliant idea and a total blast to read. Unfortunately, the sequel—with its cartoonish villains and an over-the-top plot featuring Nazis, a master race program, cloning, genetically spliced creatures and so on—was a major disappointment, dampening my excitement for the next book in the series.

Thankfully, The King of Plagues is a lot more like Patient Zero than The Dragon Factory. The villains for instance, are far less cartoonish. Granted, the Seven Kings are a secret society with names like Kings of Fear, Famine, Gold, War, Plagues, Lies and Thieves; they worship a Goddess; and were supposedly responsible for things like the Twin Towers, the flu epidemics and the economic crash of 2008; but as a whole, the villains in The King of Plagues are far more menacing and interesting than those in The Dragon Factory. Of course, it also helps that the novel features a couple of familiar faces from Patient Zero, one of whom becomes the new King of Plagues.

In addition to the better villains, Jonathan Maberry does a better job with Joe Ledger. Joe Ledger is the star of the series, and deservedly so, but in The Dragon Factory it seemed like Ledger was demoted to the second string in favor of bad guys and supporting characters. Fortunately, The King of Plagues features a lot more of Joe Ledger. More of Ledger’s rough charm and endearing sarcasm. More of his vivid descriptions of gunplay and hand-to-hand combat. And more of his fractured psyche—the Modern Man, the Warrior, and the Cop. Trust me, more of Joe Ledger is a good thing.

The biggest improvement with The King of Plagues however, is with the story. While the plot features secret societies, “weaponized versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt”, Area 51, and a prisoner named Nicodemus who possibly possesses supernatural abilities, the story in The King of Plagues is a lot more plausible than The Dragon Factory. This is because the novel focuses more on the terrorism angle that was largely missing in the last book, including such relevant ideas as Terror Town—a training ground dedicated to counter- and antiterrorism training; think tanks comprised of popular fiction authors to imagine worst-case scenarios; and terrorists using online social networks (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.) for anonymous communication or stirring up hate crimes.

Besides being more plausible, The King of Plagues also packs an emotional wallop. In fact, between a bombing that captures the overwhelming fear and loss of 9/11, a seven-year-old boy dying from a weaponized version of the Ebola virus, innocent people forced to commit heinous acts in order to save their families, and Joe Ledger still grieving from the recent loss of a loved one, The King of Plagues features some of the series’ most heart-rending moments yet. Moments punctuated by Jonathan Maberry’s skillful writing:

“For one crystalline moment the entire scene was dead silent, as if we were all frozen into a photograph from a book on war. This could have been Somalia or Beirut or Baghdad or any of the other places on our troubled earth where hatred takes the form of lethal rage. We, the victors, stood amid gunsmoke and the pink haze of blood that had been turned to mist, amazed that we were alive, doubting both our salvation and our right to have survived while others—perhaps more innocent and deserving than ourselves—lay dead or dying.”

Despite the novel’s many improvements over The Dragon Factory, The King of Plagues still suffers from some of the same problems as its predecessor. Like taking too much time to establish the vast reach and power of the Seven Kings, which could have been summarized in a much more concise manner; weak subplots involving the villains that were either too easy to anticipate or too melodramatic; and shallow supporting characters.

CONCLUSION: After finishing The Dragon Factory, I was disappointed by the far-fetched territory the series had ventured into and hoped that The King of Plagues would not follow suit. To my relief, Jonathan Maberry’s The King of Plagues utilizes the same successful formula that made Patient Zero so much fun to read. A formula that made The King of Plagues nearly as thrilling and page-turning as the awesome Patient Zero. A formula that should be used for all future installments in the Joe Ledger series...

"Thera" by Zeruya Shalev (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Zeruya Shalev at the Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature
Order "Thera" HERE

INTRODUCTION: "Thera" is a book that I picked up from the B&N bookshelves because of the title and cover without knowing anything about the author or subject, only to discover a blurb that was not quite what generally interests me. But I opened it at random and the moment I read the first sentence I was just hooked and I knew I had to read it "now". On finishing it, I was so impressed by its extraordinary voice that I had to talk about it as soon as possible...

A November 2010 translation from Hebrew by H. Sachs and Mitch Ginsburg, the novel has been published originally in Israel in 2005, being the fourth novel of the author and the third translated into multiple languages and getting widespread acclaim.

"A woman, who suddenly decides to forsake her husband for brilliant fantasies of freedom and independence, confronts a complicated reality: unexpected isolation, awakening doubts, guilt, sorrow, and the troubles of her small son trying to adapt to a new situation.

Unexpectedly and paradoxically, the family Ella Miller destroys becomes a radiant fantasy in itself, and she sinks into an agonizing longing for the sheltering secure framework of her previous life, even when a new love, both promising and happy, finally comes her way. It goes on even when she tries to build a united family with her new love and his children. The new life turns out to be an unbelievably complicated learning process, a path paved with upsets that at times demand more of her than she ever thought she could give."

ANALYSIS: "Thera" is narrated in first person by 36 year old Ella Fisher, an archaeologist with slightly unorthodox theories about how the famous ancient volcanic explosion on the Mediterranean Island of Thera - Santorini - led to the freedom of the Jewish people in Egypt and the biblical exodus under Moses.

The novel is set in Jerusalem of the present day - as of original publication 2005 more or less - and follows Ella's increasingly complicated life over a relatively short span of time at least as narration goes. Despite seemingly being contently married with a colleague and former mentor and having a son she dotes on who is just starting school, one day Ella decides to kick out her husband Ammon for various reasons that are slowly revealed in the book.

"Thera" is a deceptively fast read despite its 400+ pages - the first person narrative and relative short time frame of the action essentially make it so - and the book is superbly written and translated. The storyline of the novel is less important than the way it is told and the portrait of Ella, her son Gili, the men in her life and the other two children of her "second family" and their relationship with Gili and herself make Thera work beautifully. The story alternates moods very well and the ending is also excellent capping a truly unexpected hit for me.

There are lots of poignant moments: when Ella essentially forces her way in Ammon's new apartment to see how her son copes there in her absence on one of the days when his father has custody - after more or less inveigling the address from Gili - and overwhelmed by the domestic feeling she experiences, she tries to get Ammon back after kicking him out not long ago, or when she has to cope with her son's school friends all having "full families" and has musings crudely put as where are the divorce statistics when you need them?

Later when she falls together with another "shipwrecked soul" partly by chance, partly with a little manipulation on her part, the story goes back to a more content semi-domestic mood though again not without its problems, not least the 3 children thrown together who have to sort of cope with the new arrangements - another poignant scene is when she buys six card packs for Gili and his new 'step brother' to share and Gili alternates between being happy to get them and suspicion that were not the other boy there he would have got all six for himself...

The above may seem a little banal in some ways, but the way the book flows is just impressive and Thera was a real pleasure to read end to end, so I truly urge you to try the available sample on Amazon and see if it instantly hooks you the way it happened with me.

As the setting goes, everything reads as normal for a modern Western prosperous city while the sometimes unusual facts of modern life in Jerusalem - eg schools have guards, men are often away on army duty... - are just presented matter of fact as are the various aspects of Jewish belief and culture inserted masterfully by the author.

Overall, Thera (A++) is just a superb piece of literary fiction that flows so well that is more of a page turner than most action oriented novels.

“Hidden Cities” by Daniel Fox (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Daniel Fox Website
Order “Hidden Cities” HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Reviews of “Dragon In Chains” + “Jade Man’s Skin”

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Daniel Fox is a pseudonym for an award-winning British author of several novels including The Books of Outremer. He’s also written children’s books, poetry, plays, and hundreds of short stories.

PLOT SUMMARY: Whatever they thought, this was always where they were going: to the belly of the dragon, or the belly of the sea.

More by chance than good judgment, the young emperor has won his first battle. The rebels have retreated from the coastal city of Santung—but they’ll be back. Distracted by his pregnant concubine, the emperor sends a distrusted aide, Ping Wen, to govern Santung in his place. There, the treacherous general will discover the healer Tien, who is obsessed with a library of sacred mage texts and the secrets concealed within—secrets upon which, Ping Wen quickly realizes, the fate of the whole war may turn.

As all sides of this seething conflict prepare for more butchery, a miner of magical jade, himself invulnerable, desperately tries to save his beautiful and yet brutally scarred clan cousin; a priestess loses her children, who are taken as pawns in a contest beyond her comprehension; and a fierce and powerful woman commits an act of violence that will entwine her, body and soul, with the spirit of jade itself. Amid a horde of soldiers, torturers, and runaways, these people will test both their human and mystical powers against a violent world. But one force trumps all: the huge, hungry, wrathful dragon...

CLASSIFICATION: Moshui: The Books of Stone and Water trilogy is a character-driven, Asian-influenced fantasy in the vein of Daniel Abraham’s The Long Price Quartet and Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori, while also containing elements of Kate Elliott’s Crossroads series and the Psalms of Isaak by Ken Scholes.

FORMAT/INFO: Hidden Cities is 432 pages long divided over six titled parts with each part divided into numbered chapters. Narration is in the third-person via several POVs including the slave-boy Han, the fishergirl-turned-emperor’s mistress Mei Feng, Mei Feng’s grandfather Old Yen, the young jade miner Yu Shan, an imperial messenger named Chung, the doctor’s daughter Tien, the bandit woman Jiao, the mother Ma Lin, the rebel leader Tunghai Wang, the imperial general Ping Wen, etc. March 22, 2011 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of Hidden Cities via Del Rey.

ANALYSIS: Hidden Cities is the concluding volume in the Moshui: The Books of Stone and Water trilogy after Dragon In Chains and Jade Man’s Skin. Like its predecessors, Hidden Cities is highlighted by Daniel Fox’s elegant prose and a strong cast of characters. I’ve already gushed in length about the lyrical prose in my reviews of Dragon In Chains and Jade Man’s Skin, but it bears repeating, especially considering how much the prose adds to the reading experience. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Daniel Fox’s poetic writing style, the author’s trilogy would have been just another run-of-the-mill fantasy series, one I probably would have given up on after the first book.

Characters meanwhile, remain richly drawn, sympathetic and diverse led by Han, Mei Feng, Jiao, Old Yen and Yu Shan who have all been there from the beginning. Supporting roles include Ma Lin, Tunghai Wang, Tien, Ping Wen, Chung and Shen with each getting a chance to add their mark in the book, while minor characters like the fake doctor Biao, Mei Feng’s friend Dandan, the rebel General Ma and the deckhand boy Pao are given pivotal parts to play in the trilogy’s conclusion. Unfortunately, while the characters are a strength in the novel, there are just too many of them with narratives. Fifteen to be exact compared to the seven that the trilogy started with. In short, there’s just not enough pages to accommodate all of the different viewpoints, and as a result, a number of characters are given the short end of the stick including Yu Shan, Han, Ma Lin, Tien and the dragon.

Negatively, world-building is still a weak spot in Hidden Cities. I had hoped the book would finally provide some answers regarding the dragon and the Li-goddess and the Empire, but despite ample opportunities, very little information is offered, somewhat wasting the potential of the trilogy’s Asian-influenced setting. The biggest problem with Hidden Cities though is with the story. After Dragon In Chains and Jade Man’s Skin, I wasn’t surprised by the slow-developing plot or lethargic pacing in Hidden Cities. What surprised me was the novel’s lack of payoff. With any trilogy, I expect the third book to resolve storylines and provide a sense of closure. What Hidden Cities offers instead is cliffhangers and even more unanswered questions than what the trilogy started out with. In fact, Hidden Cities felt more like reading a middle volume than the conclusion to a trilogy, which is not what I had signed up for when I started the series.

CONCLUSION: As much as I love the prose and the characters in the series, it wasn’t enough to overshadow the bloated number of viewpoints in Hidden Cities or the novel’s lack of closure, which is especially disappointing since the book was supposed to conclude the Moshui: The Books of Stone and Water trilogy. Of course, it will be even more disappointing if there isn’t a sequel to tie up all of the loose ends left at the end of Hidden Cities...

"City of Hope and Despair" by Ian Whates (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Ian Whates Website
Order City of Hope and Despair
Read FBC Review of City of Dreams and Nightmare

INTRODUCTION: City of Hope & Despair is the second book in the series about Thaiburley, the famed City of a Hundred Rows that has started last year in City of Dreams and Nightmares.

I was a little surprised by some aspects of it; most notably the fact that it is a *middle book* in a trilogy - not a 2nd part of a duology as I expected, so it has the typical structure of such where things advance, some threads get solved but nothing essentially stands on its own.

The blurb below provided the other new aspect, namely the expansion of the story beyond Thaiburley though the city features strongly in the second main thread of the novel.

"A SECOND VISIT TO THAIBURLEY: THE CITY OF DREAMS, THE FABLED CITY OF A HUNDRED ROWS.
Dark forces are gathering in the shadowy depths, and the whole city is under threat. The former street-nick, Tom, embarks on a journey to discover the source of the great river Thair, said to be the ultimate power behind all of Thaiburley. Accompanying him are the assassin Dewar and the young Thaistess Mildra. It soon becomes evident that their journey has more significance than any of them realize, as past secrets catch up with them and unknown adversaries hunt them... to the death! "

According to the information inside the copy I have, the concluding series book will be called City of Lights and Shadows and there is an excerpt that gives a hint where it goes.

ANALYSIS: City of Hope & Despair essentially starts where City Dreams and Nightmare ends, though it takes a little to get there since the first pages of the book are a sort of extended prologue that seems disconnected from what came before.

Inside Thaiburley nasty things stir and bad things happen, most notably a creature called The Soul Thief - who does precisely what its name says and steals the souls especially of the people with a little "talent" - is on one of its occasional rampages. To add to uncertainty, the city's underground is in flux after the events of the first book and new gangs appear to take place of the decimated older ones

Kat whom we last have seen locked into mortal duel with her sister for the mastery of the Tattooed Men and the Arena is the main protagonist here with her sister - their battle gets postponed due to the Soul Thief of course - and a various cast, mostly familiar from the first book; this part is a little weaker than the first book mostly because it brings little new and reads not unlike typical UF stuff, but Kat makes it worth reading.

In the second thread we get to see the world outside Thaiburley and learn some backstory and some of the big picture issues, when Tom is sent by the First Minister on a crucial mission with DeWar as a "bodyguard" as well as two other companions. Of course there are people/entities that do not want the mission to succeed and they command a skilled assassin with a personal grudge against DeWar to stop them at any cost. This part alternates the expected - fights, ambushes,...- with a lot of world building expansion and it is pretty good.

So the content of the book is comparable with book one with the large advantage in originality City of Dreams and Nightmares had by simply being the first book in the milieu, being only partly compensated by the expansion of the universe here.

In execution, I would say the books are also comparable so City of Hope & Despair moves fast and is a page turner with everything that made City Dreams and Nightmare entertaining. The action takes place in a fairly limited amount of time so the main characters do not change much, but we find out crucial information about their background and that adds to their depth as well as offering a better understanding of their motivations and actions from the first book. These "back story nuggets" scattered throughout City of Hope & Despair were very well done and I found them a major new strength of the series.

City of Hope & Despair (A) ends like the first one with a semi-cliffhanger in one of the two main storylines and with a clear to be continued in the other, so the trilogy ending which I plan to read asap of course will determine how the series stands for me.

“Sea of Ghosts” by Alan Campbell (Reviewed by Robert Thompson and Liviu Suciu)

Official Alan Campbell Blog
Order “Sea of Ghosts” HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of The Deepgate Codex HERE, HERE + HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: After graduating from Edinburgh University, Alan Campbell worked for DMA Design, Visual Sciences and Rockstar, designing such video games as Body Harvest, Formula One 2000, and Grand Theft Auto. After completing Vice City, Alan left to pursue a career in photography and writing. His bibliography includes The Deepgate Codex and the novella “Lye Street”.

PLOT SUMMARY: When the last of the Gravediggers, an elite imperial infiltration unit, are disbanded and hunted down by the emperor they once served, Colonel Thomas Granger takes refuge in the unlikeliest of places. He becomes a jailer in Ethugra—a prison city of poison-flooded streets and gaols in which enemies of the Empire are held captive. But when Granger takes possession of two new prisoners, he realizes that he can’t escape his past so easily.

Ianthe is a young girl with an extraordinary psychic talent. A gift that makes her unique in a world held ransom by the powerful Haurstaf—a sisterhood of telepaths who are all that stand between mankind and the threat of the Unmer, a powerful civilization of entropic sorcerers and dragon-mounted warriors. In this war-torn land, Ianthe promises to make Granger an extremely wealthy man, if he can only keep her safe from harm.

This is what Granger is best at. But when other factions learn about Ianthe's unique ability, even Granger's skills of warfare are tested to their limits. While Ianthe struggles to control the powers that are growing in ways no one thought possible, another threat is surfacing—one who, if not stopped, will drown the world and all of humanity with it...

CLASSIFICATION: Sea of Ghosts is a nautical-themed epic fantasy that reminded me a of cross between Robert V.S. Redick’s accessible Chathrand Voyage series and the grittier works of Glen Cook, James Clemens and Alan Campbell’s very own Deepgate Codex, while the book’s magic system brought to mind Mark Charan Newton and Ken Scholes. Recommended for fans of Brandon Sanderson, Robert V.S. Redick, Chris Wooding, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and the like...

FORMAT/INFO: Sea of Ghosts is 500 pages long divided over eighteen titled chapters and a Prologue & Epilogue. Narration is in the third person via Colonel Thomas Granger, Ianthe, Ethan Maskelyne the metaphysicist and Unmer expert, and Sister Briana Marks of the Haurstaf. Sea of Ghosts is the opening volume in The Gravedigger Chronicles with the book ending on a couple of minor cliffhangers. April 1, 2011 marks the UK Hardcover publication of Sea of Ghosts via Tor UK. Cover art provided by Larry Rostant.

ANALYSIS: Despite its shortcomings, I was a huge fan of Alan Campbell’s debut series, The Deepgate Codex, and ever since the trilogy’s conclusion, I’ve been anxiously awaiting for news regarding the author's next book. So when Sea of Ghosts was finally announced, it instantly became one of my most anticipated releases of 2011...

Looking back on The Deepgate Codex, what I loved most about the trilogy was Alan Campbell’s creative and vivid imagination, which included bringing to life an ancient Gormenghastian-influenced city suspended by giant chains over a cavernous abyss that was the home of a god, and a Hell that would give Dante and John Milton nightmares. That same inventive imagination is on full display in the author’s new book, Sea of Ghosts, which introduces readers to a world slowly drowning in brine, a toxic substance unleashed by the Unmer that also changes humans into the Drowned. Add in the telepathic Haurstaf, dragons that were once human, and a wild variety of Unmer sorcery and artefacts—void flies, skybarques, an alchemist’s pin, deadships, a Replicating Sword, seeing knives, spectacles that allow the wearer to see the past, et cetera—and it’s obvious that Alan Campbell has created another stunning fantasy world.

What’s interesting about this world, particularly Unmer sorcery, is that it possesses a science fiction element, as explained by the metaphysicist, Ethan Maskelyne:

“What we perceive as sorcery is merely a method of juggling entropy. The Unmer transmit energy and matter from one place to another, most likely from one universe to another, through some sort of aspacial conduit. The Unmers’ strength lies in their ability to plunder what I have chosen to call cosmic remnants.

Our present universe is merely the latest configuration of energy and matter formed within a never-ending cycle of cosmic inflation. Like the ripples formed beneath a dripping tap—as the outer circle fades they are replaced by new ones. If my theory is correct, it means that certain aspects of Unmer sorcery are not only detrimental to our universe, but completely impossible without assistance from beyond our universe.”

On the flipside, world-building was a disappointment with the author providing very little background information on the Unmer, their war with the Haurstaf, the famous Unmer traitor Argusto Conquillas, dragons, and so on. It’s a shame too, because as imaginative as the novel is, Sea of Ghosts could have been even better if Alan Campbell had done more to flesh out the setting and his creative ideas.

Plot-wise, the story in Sea of Ghosts is a fairly simple one, centered around Ianthe and her unique ability, and the three sides fighting over her: Ethan Maskelyne for her Unmer treasure hunting talent, Sister Briana Marks for her Haurstaf potential, and Colonel Thomas Granger for personal reasons. Despite the story’s simplicity, played out tropes—trial by combat, a school where the new student has to deal with bullies, the youthful protagonist with godlike powers—and the occasional deus ex machina, Sea of Ghosts is a highly entertaining novel highlighted by cinematic pacing, exhilarating action sequences, and unexpected moments of dark violence—the brutal execution of a Drowned, rape and torture—which lends a sense of gravity to the book. At least it’s this way for most of the novel. When the story shifts to Awl about 350 pages in, Sea of Ghosts starts becoming more derivative and over-the-top, and less engaging. The climax in particular—which felt rushed and underwhelming, especially compared to the first fourteen chapters in the novel—was disappointing. Thankfully, many matters introduced in Sea of Ghosts remain unresolved—the source of the Unmer’s power, the purpose of the brine and where it came from, the beach of keys, Argusto Conquillas, Ianthe’s ability, et cetera—and because of this, I have a strong feeling that the sequel will be even bigger and better than its predecessor, much the way Iron Angel was a significant improvement over Scar Night.

Alan Campbell’s characterization meanwhile, has improved since he wrote The Deepgate Codex, but is still a work-in-progress if the lack of depth and similar narrative voices suffered by Briana Marks and Ianthe are any indication. While both Briana and Ianthe add little of worth to Sea of Ghosts as POVs, Ianthe at least possesses the potential to develop into one of the most important characters in the series if handled correctly. On the other hand, Colonel Thomas Granger and Ethan Maskelyne were a joy to read. Granger in particular, was easy to root for and care about, even if the veteran soldier shares many of the same qualities—pragmatism, wits, luck—as The Black Company’s Croaker, Malazan’s Whiskeyjack and Piper Hecht from The Instrumentalities Of The Night, while the Gravedigger’s reasons for pursuing Ianthe are not very convincing. Ethan Maskelyne in the meantime, is a complex villain endowed with a brilliant intellect, charming arrogance, and homicidal insanity. He believes he is trying to save the world for his family—a wife and infant son—and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. As far as the supporting cast, expect the characters to be one-dimensional and forgettable.

CONCLUSION: Despite a disappointing finale and suffering from some of the same issues that plagued The Deepgate Codex, Alan Campbell’s Sea of Ghosts is a very impressive start to The Gravedigger Chronicles. I was particularly impressed by the significant improvement Alan Campbell has made as a writer, especially compared to his debut novel, Scar Night. In fact, for those yet to read anything by Alan Campbell, I would recommend Sea of Ghosts over The Deepgate Codex, mainly because the new series offers greater appeal than the author’s debut trilogy, while possessing the potential to be more rewarding. From a personal standpoint, I thought Sea of Ghosts was a step down from Alan Campbell’s best novel, Iron Angel, but the book was still a blast to read and I can’t wait to discover what the author has planned for the next volume in The Gravedigger Chronicles...

Liviu's take: As opposed to Robert I am not a fan of the first Alan Campbell series - The Deepgate Codex - despite that it sounded just what I enjoy a lot when announced. I bought the first book on publication but never cared enough to read beyond the first couple of chapters and then I got the second book hoping it will hook me into the series but it never did.

So Sea of Ghosts was a book far from my radar for 2011, but I received an unexpected advanced review copy from Tor.uk last fall and considering Robert's high praise for Mr. Campbell's writing I tried it and overall I liked it better than I expected - for once I read it carefully end to end which is more I could say for many books I open and for another I plan to read its sequel - but I still had some issues that stopped me from fully loving it. Ultimately I think it reduces to the author's style not being fully compatible with my taste, rather than anything so-called objective but here it is:

There were moments I thought the book would break out for me and become a big time favorite and then stuff like caricature villain Hu strutting around - that character is so cartoonish that he kills suspension of disbelief at any appearance - or main serious villain Maskelyne's 2 cents philosophizing and explaining how awesome a bad guy he is, would come and I would be, "not again, these things have been out of date in serious sff for ages now." Actually all the characters in Sea of Ghosts are pure stock with no depth - the frightened but very powerful girl, the "honor, duty, etc, etc" officer relegated by caricature emperor Hu to exile... In addition there were many over the top action sequences that happened because they needed to happen.

Where Sea Ghosts (B from me) shines and the reason I kept reading it, is in the ingenious world building and the unpredictable storyline that kept me curious to see where it goes. There are many goodies in the novel with lots of cool sfnal stuff: Brine Sea - well I will leave you to discover what that is - the Drowned, the whole idea of Multiverse exchange and when you think you get a grip where the author heads, there will come a twist that will make you reconsider, while the ending is excellent and promises a lot for the second volume which I plan to read for sure.