“The Goblin Corps” by Ari Marmell (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Ari Marmell Website

Order “The Goblin Corps” HERE

Read FBC’s Review of “The Conqueror’s Shadow”

Read FBC’s Review of “The Warlord’s Legacy”

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Ari Marmell has a BA in Creative Writing at the University of Houston. He has worked for such role-playing games as Dungeons & Dragons and the World of Darkness, while written tie-in fiction for Vampire: the Masquerade and Magic: the Gathering. His first wholly original novel was The Conqueror’s Shadow, followed by the sequel, The Warlord’s Legacy. Forthcoming releases from Pyr include the YA novels, Thief’s Covenant and Witch Hunt.

PLOT SYNOPSIS: Morthûl, the dreaded Charnel King, has failed.

Centuries of plotting from the heart of the Iron Keep, deep within the dark lands of Kirol Syrreth—all for naught. Foiled at the last by the bumbling efforts of a laughable band of so-called heroes, brainless and over-muscled cretins without sense enough to recognize a hopeless cause when they take it on. Machinations developed over generations, schemes intended to deliver the world into the Dark Lord’s hands, now devastated beyond salvation. But the so-called forces of Light have paid for their meddling with the life of Princess Amalia, only child of the royal family of Shauntille.

Now, as winter solidifies its icy grip on the passes of the Brimstone Mountains, disturbing news has reached the court of Morthûl. King Dororam, enraged by the murder of his only child—and accompanied by that same group of delusional upstart “heroes”—is assembling all the Allied Kingdoms, fielding an army unlike any seen before. The armies of Kirol Syrreth muster to meet the attack that is sure to come as soon as the snows have melted from the mountain paths, but their numbers are sorely depleted. Still, after uncounted centuries of survival, the Dark Lord isn’t about to go down without a fight, particularly in battle against a mortal! No, the Charnel King still has a few tricks up his putrid and tattered sleeves, and the only thing that can defeat him now may just be the inhuman soldiers on whom he’s pinned his last hopes.

Welcome to the Goblin Corps. May the best man lose...

FORMAT/INFO: The Goblin Corps is 552 pages long divided over a Prologue, eleven numbered/titled chapters, and an Epilogue. Narration is in the third-person omniscient via numerous characters including the seven members of the Demon Squad, the Charnel King Morthûl, his lieutenant Vigo Havarren, Ananias DuMark, King Dororam, etc. The Goblin Corps works well as a standalone novel, coming to a satisfying stopping point, but there is room for a sequel. July 2011 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of The Goblin Corps via Pyr. Cover art is provided by Lucas Graciano.

ANALYSIS: Ari Marmell’s The Conqueror’s Shadow really took me by surprise when it came out in 2010, establishing itself as one of the year’s most entertaining fantasy novels. Unfortunately, the sequel—The Warlord’s Legacy—was a major disappointment. As a result, I was on the fence regarding the author’s new novel, The Goblin Corps, before I eventually decided to give the book a chance.

To my relief, The Goblin Corps possesses the same elements that made The Conqueror’s Shadow so much fun to read. This includes cleverly subverted fantasy tropes—villains who are more likeable than the heroes, a wolf-like troll, a war against the Dark Lord that doesn’t go quite as planned, etc.—comical David Eddings-like humor, and Joe Abercrombie’s kick-ass grittiness.

At the same time, The Goblin Corps offers a couple of improvements that makes the book even more rewarding and fun to read than The Conqueror’s Shadow. The first is Ari Marmell’s writing, which continues to show improvement, particularly the author’s prose:

“The threadbare layer of carpeting over the floor was worn as full of holes as an old sock, and whatever color it might once have boasted had long been trampled into an unassuming, colorless gray. A single chair, its cushion torn and hemorrhaging stuffing, its wooden frame bending beneath the years, sulked in the corner. The bed frame, in equal disrepair and clearly not on speaking terms with the chair, would have long since collapsed if it hadn’t been propped against the wall.”

Secondly, the author doesn’t pull any punches in The Goblin Corps. One complaint I had about The Conqueror’s Shadow was the odd clash of PG-13 sensibilities and R-rated violence. In The Goblin Corps, the Demon Squad freely curse—they are villains after all; violence is unrestrained and gruesomely explicit, venturing at times into disturbing and horrific territory; and the body count is deliciously high, even including some of the main characters. In short, apart from the novel’s PG-13 humor, The Goblin Corps embraces its dark side—and thrives because of it.

Plot-wise, The Goblin Corps revolves around a new Demon Squad assembled to serve King Morthûl in preparation for the upcoming war against the Allied Kingdoms. This new Demon Squad includes Cræosh, an orc warrior; the bugbear Jhurpess; Gork, a kobold who specializes in pickpocketing; T’chakatimlamitilnog—“Katim” for short—a troll from the House of Ru; a gremlin named Gimmol Phicereune; the doppleganger Omb Fezeill; Belrotha, an ogre and governess of Itho; and Shreckt, a 20-inch tall gargoyle who acts as the squad’s drill sergeant.

Experiencing the Squad’s interactions with one another based on their physical/racial differences and contrasting personalities—Cræosh’s belligerence and vulgarity, Gork’s short stature, Belrotha’s dimwittedness, Jhurpess speaking in the third person (“Jhurpess hungry!”), etc.—is easily a highlight of the novel. That and the incessant banter; seeing how certain relationships play out (Gork’s animosity for Fezeill, the friendship that develops between Gimmol & Belrotha, the tension between Cræosh & Katim because Katim wants to kill the orc to serve her in the afterlife), interesting subplots (Gimmol’s hidden talent, Vigo Havarren’s relationship to Morthûl, Morthûl’s secret plan) and the Demon Squad’s numerous (mis)adventures—training in the frozen Steppes, running errands for Queen Anne, uncovering a spy, fulfilling Morthûl’s mission—which forces them to face a wide variety of dangerous enemies including yetis, worm-creatures, troglodytes, nagas, undead/ghosts, murderous ambulatory trees, “a huge fu**ing hard-shelled swamptopus”, and much more.

From a negative standpoint, The Goblin Corps suffers from many of the same issues found in The Conqueror’s Shadow and The Warlord’s Legacy including shallow characterization, unexplored themes, and straightforward plotting. However, since it is the novel’s intent to entertain, not challenge intellectually, these drawbacks are hardly noticeable. Especially since the book never takes itself seriously. Regarding The Goblin Corps specifically, some of the jokes and humor starts to become tiresome in the second half of the novel, while it seemed odd that the book was called “The Goblin Corps”, even though the Demon Squad is never referred to by that title.

CONCLUSION: As much as I enjoyed reading The Conqueror’s Shadow by Ari Marmell, The Warlord’s Legacy left a bad taste in my mouth, and because of that, I almost passed on The Goblin Corps. That would have been a huge mistake. As good as The Conqueror’s Shadow was, The Goblin Corps is better. Better written, funnier, more fulfilling, and twice as entertaining. Basically, The Goblin Corps is must-read material for anyone who is a fan of Joe Abercrombie and likes seeing fantasy tropes viciously subverted. Don’t let the Abercrombie comparisons fool you either. Ari has his own style which he is perfecting, and if he can continue writing books like The Conqueror’s Shadow and The Goblin Corps, then I wouldn’t be surprised if exciting new fantasy authors were one day compared to Ari Marmell...

"The Clockwork Rocket" by Greg Egan (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Greg Egan Website
Order "The Clockwork Rocket" HERE or HERE (drm free multiformat ebook)
Read the First Seven Chapters HERE

INTRODUCTION: While contemporary sf is very diverse, encompassing everything from space opera to near-future to alt-history and steampunk, when I think of "pure sf" as the genre has originally evolved to intermix scientific speculation with literature, there are only two authors of today that stand at the top and one of them is Greg Egan whose superb far-future novels like Incandescence, Schild's Ladder or Diaspora combine the cutting edge of today's science with entertaining story-lines. Also Mr. Egan's short stories which are combined in several collections, most notably Luminous, Oceanic, Dark Integers and Crystal Nights and contain some of the most mind-blowing sf at short length that I've ever read, are mileposts of today's genre.

I have read almost all of Mr. Egan's work from the first novels like Permutation City and Quarantine to his prodigious short fiction output with only the two notable exceptions of his near future novels (Teranesia and Zendegi) which are of less interest for me and I never failed to be blown away by his ability to put the most abstract and farthest reaching concepts of modern science in a story that entertains and moves.

So when I read about his planned new series that takes place in a "Riemannian universe", one where the metric - the math concept that encodes the basic physics of the universe - is positive definite and symmetric in space and time as opposed to the indefinite antisymmetric metric in the Einsteinian universe we seemingly inhabit, I was truly intrigued and indeed The Clockwork Rocket was what I expected and more and so far it is my all around top novel of the year for the combination of sense of wonder, great world building, characters and general "human interest" - the shape-shifting, weird biology aliens of The Clockwork Rocket are both strange and familiar and the story of the main character Yalda is as emotional as any I've read this year...

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "The Clockwork Rocket" is the perfect sf novel and a clear example why sf is still my favorite genre; on the one hand there is sense of wonder given by the speculative but informed exploration of an universe with definite though different laws of physics than ours, on the other hand the book flows on the page and it has in Yalda one of the best main characters in recent memories, while the supporting cast is well drawn and distinctive.

The protagonists of the story are strange: the metric of the universe requires complex molecules to be really complex so to speak, so all life is shapeshifting; our heroes are six limbed shapeshifters, symmetric in 3D in their "normal" form - so they have eyes both back and front for example - that emit light, sleep in beds dug in the ground to cool down - though of course the well off in cities have special cooled beds.

They reproduce by the mother being divided into four - two twin pairs, each usually forming a new reproducing couple, though there are the occasional solos like Yalda and the social misfits mostly female, that run away from their twin, not to speak of the usual hardships of life that prevent exponential overpopulation from the generational doubling above, while the longer lived men are conditioned to take care of the children...

A harsh universe with unstable matter, but also a culture of cities, science, technology, society, books, philosophers, scientists... The people in this universe are "not us" and in some ways are very strange due to their biology - "being able to fly is like being able to know your mother" is one of the simple proverbs that appear in the book - but they are also "us" in the ways that matter. So The Clockwork Rocket is a pitch perfect example of how to imagine aliens that are not "costume aliens" ie pseudo-humans with one human characteristic expanded to usually grotesque proportions a la Star Trek species, but that are similar enough that we understand and care about them...

The book follows the "solo" Yalda - ie she "ate" her twin in the womb as the other "normal" children tease her - from a farmer family but who is lucky enough to have a father who appreciates learning and who has promised Yalda's mother to school any of the offspring that shows inclination. So despite being almost twice as big as the normal female - and females are considerably bigger than males here for obvious biological reasons - and not expected to reproduce - ie be quartered in four - in the usual age range due to the lack of a twin mate, so being potentially of huge help on the family farm, Yalda gets to go to school and later is admitted to the university in one of the cities that form the civilization of the planet.

Soon she starts rewriting the physics books by some ingenious experiments, while becoming involved with a group of "liberated" professional females who had learned how to extend their lives and avoid the harsh fate nature destined for them, since even if they do not mate, there is "spontaneous" reproduction and the chances of such increase drastically with age, while the special drug that prevents it, needs to be taken in larger and larger doses...

And then of course comes the main story we read about in the blurb with the orthogonal stars, the threat to Yalda's civilization and the crazy solution she and some of her friends come up with...

So there is discovery, drama, even the stirrings of social change, while in the second part of the book the pace accelerates and the book becomes a true sf classic of people learning to cope with new, challenging and unforeseen circumstances, while Yalda's saga continues towards its clear conclusion. The novel moved me deeply too and I *really* want the second installment to see where the story goes next since there is ample scope for surprises and the author surely did not show his full hand about his exploration of this wonderfully imagined universe.

Overall, The Clockwork Rocket (A++) is the one sf novel I strongly recommend to read if you want to understand why the genre has fascinated so many people for so long. Even if you are confused at the beginning by the seemingly familiar but actually strange people of the book, keep reading since things will start making sense soon and the story is captivating from the first page till the superb but emotional last paragraph...

"When Yalda was almost three years old, she was entrusted with the task of bearing her grandfather into the forest to convalesce.

**************

After squeezing and prodding the old man all over with more hands than most people used in a day, Doctor Livia announced her diagnosis. “You’re suffering from a serious light deficiency. The crops here are virtually monochromatic; your body needs a broader spectrum of illumination.”

“Skeleton Crew” by Cameron Haley w/Bonus Review of “Retribution” (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Cameron Haley Website

Order “Skeleton Crew” HERE

Read FBC’s Review of “Mob Rules”

Read FBC’s Interview with Cameron Haley

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Cameron Haley is a pseudonym for Greg Benage. Greg is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Tulane University with a degree in Political Economy. He currently works as a Senior Product Manager in US Bank. He also worked as a managing editor and product development executive in the publishing industry for more than six years and has more than 14 years of experience in commercial writing and business communications. His bibliography includes Mob Rules and Skeleton Crew.

PLOT SUMMARY: Some people fear snakes. Me? Let it be known that Domino Riley hates zombies. Bodies are hitting the pavement in L.A. like they always do, but this time they’re getting right back up, death be damned. My mobbed-up outfit of magicians may be the strongest in the city, but even they aren’t immune to the living dead.

And I’ve yet to develop a resistance to Adan Rashan. If I don’t team up with the boss’s son, we won’t just be at each other’s throats over control of the outfit. We’ll be craving hearts and brains, as well.

Because as long as this nasty spirit from the Between is stopping souls from finding peace, I’m facing the biggest supernatural crisis to ever hit the City of Angels.

Zombies, it’s time you feared me..

CLASSIFICATION: Like its predecessor Mob Rules, Skeleton Crew is a dark Urban Fantasy novel set in a contemporary Los Angeles.

FORMAT/INFO: Skeleton Crew is 311 pages long divided over fifteen numbered chapters. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via Domino Riley. Skeleton Crew is the second volume of The Underworld Cycle after Mob Rules. While Skeleton Crew can be read as a standalone novel, it would be advisable to read Mob Rules first for the best experience. April 19, 2011 marked the North American Trade Paperback publication of Skeleton Crew via Luna Books. Cover illustration is provided by Timothy Bradstreet.

ANALYSIS: After last year’s surprising debut by Cameron Haley, I was very interested to see how the author would further develop the story and setting in Skeleton Crew, the second volume of The Underworld Cycle. With the blurb promising zombies, I grew even more excited, wondering what surprises the author had in store for readers. A warning though before I continue. If you have not read Mob Rules, the first book of The Underworld Cycle, then please be aware that there are spoilers ahead...

Like most urban fantasy novels, The Underworld Cycle takes place in a contemporary setting where magic exists in the normal world. In this case, the residents of L.A. call magic “juice”. Domino Riley is one such practitioner and lately she’s had her hands full due to the events of the previous book, Mob Rules. This includes dealing with a new gang, Domino appointed the war general of her gang, and working alongside Adan Rashan—the son of Shanar Rashan, a Sumerian wizard ganglord.

Skeleton Crew meanwhile, opens with a funeral that quickly turns bizarre when the bodies of those getting buried climb out of their coffins craving human flesh. From here, Domino, Adan, Honey and her new pixie boyfriend must figure out why the spirits of the recently deceased are refusing to leave their mortal remains, and stop the zombie infestation before the US government decides to nuke L.A. At the same time, Domino must also deal with her complicated feelings for Adan and their power struggles.

Compared to Mob Rules, Skeleton Crew is definitely better. The pacing is excellent with events escalating to an exciting conclusion where Domino and company must face very difficult choices; Domino herself is very fun to read, reminding me of the criminal Parker by Richard Stark; and the tone of the book continues to venture into darker territory. Plus, the author utilizes a real-life controversial topic in the plot that was a good move, even if it is not developed very far.

Drawbacks are few, but include a protagonist who is portrayed more as a hero than the criminal she’s supposed to be—probably because Domino’s life as a gangster is told rather than shown—and an interesting setting that is restricted only to Los Angeles.

CONCLUSION: While Mob Rules showed some promise, it faltered during the middle and third parts of the novel. Skeleton Crew on the other hand, has very few dull moments as it races towards a macabre, but exciting conclusion, while giving readers larger doses of action, not to mention a kick-ass heroine and a worthwile incentive to come back for the third volume of The Underworld Cycle, which is being paved towards an explosive finale...

BONUS REVIEW — “Retribution”:

Order “Harvest Moon” HERE

Retribution is a novella featured in the Harvest Moon anthology, which also includes novellas by Mercedes Lackey and Michelle Sagara. Retribution is 93 pages long, features Domino Riley as the first-person narrator, and is set before the events of Mob Rules, the first book in The Underworld Cycle.

The novella opens with Domino executing a would-be usurper out in the desert. Before he dies though, the gangster inflicts a terrible curse upon Domino involving Samael, the angel of death. From here, Retribution follows Domino as she trys to break the curse before it’s too late. What I liked best about this story was how it shows Domino for who she truly is: a ruthless gangster willing to do whatever it takes to get things done. The novella also reveals some of Domino’s background, which helps explain the hardened person she has become.

As a whole, Retribution is perhaps the best thing Cameron Haley has written so far. Not only is it the best interpretation of the character Domino, but the novella also evocatively captures the author’s writing style, while providing a fast-paced, entertaining story. In short, I would recommend Retribution to anyone interested in sampling Cameron Haley’s work...

The Books of 2011 So Far + Update by Liviu Suciu

After a month and a half of upheaval - moving a pretty big household 650 miles from the NYC suburbs to an university town in the Midwest - I am resuming regular posting and reviews, so to start with I will present my two lists of the best 2011 novels I have read so far.

I keep the updated 2011 English language novels reading log with links, ratings, etc on FBC HERE and the general mostly-complete 2011 reading log with all years, all languages and all kinds of books on Goodreads HERE. I do not include most rereads, in non-fiction I include only the "popular" books but not the professional ones, while a bunch of books especially in the Romanian language I have recently read or reread do not have Goodreads entries, so that reading log is only partial.

To my surprise I have not yet read one non-sff 2011 novel that blew me away and made my Top 25 list, while in the next tier of excellent, highly recommended books there are only 4 non-sff out of 21 so far. Since some of the books in the Top 25 list have been published in this hiatus period (Egan, Carey, Newton), I will start by reviewing them and then I will alternate new releases with other 2011 books from the second list that have appeared in the meantime.

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Here is the cover collage for my Top 25 list so far with 12 books ranked in order as of now. The title list is available HERE and as usual the available reviews are in our continually updated Review Index page.


Ordered Title List

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Here is the cover collage for the other 21 highly recommended books of 2011 with the title list HERE.



Unordered Title List

“The Steel Queen” by Karen Azinger (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Karen Azinger Website

Order “The Steel Queen” HERE

Read An Extract HERE

Watch a Video Discussion with the Author HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Before venturing into the field of writing, Karen Azinger spent over twenty years as an international business strategist, eventually becoming a vice-president for one of the world's largest natural resource companies. She's worked on developing the first gem-quality diamond mine in Canada's arctic, on coal seam gas power projects in Australia, and on petroleum projects around the world. Having lived in Australia for eight years she considers it to be her second home. She's also lived in Canada and spent a lot of time in the Canadian arctic. Eight years ago on a hike in the Colombia River Gorge she realized she had enough original ideas to finally write an epic fantasy, resulting in The Silk & Steel Saga. The Steel Queen is her debut novel.

PLOT SUMMARY: In a world of forgotten magic, the kingdoms of Erdhe are nothing more than a chessboard for the gods. The players are being positioned for an epic struggle where lives, loves and crowns hang in the balance, yet few mortals understand the rules. In this game of power, pawns of light and darkness will make the difference in the battle for the future of the world:

Katherine—'The Imp'; a young princess with the stout heart of a warrior will challenge the minions of a thousand-year-old evil.

Liandra—The Spider Queen; who uses her beauty to beguile, her spies to foresee, and her gold to control, will need all of her skill and strength to fight a rebellion with her own blood at it's heart.

Magda—a silver-haired grandmother who has been stripped of all she holds dear will be underestimated in the fight against a false religion.

Cereus—an oracle priestess, will ply her powers of dark magic and seduction in her quest for immortality.

Steffan—the puppeteer, will corrupt the innocent and unwary with greed and desire, as he sets fire to an entire kingdom.

FORMAT/INFO: The Steel Queen is 437 pages long divided over eighty-six titled chapters. Also includes a map and appendices for the kingdoms of Castlegard, Coronth, Lanverness, Navarre & the order of Kiralynn monks. Narration is in the third-person, mostly via Katherine (The Imp),  Liandra the Spider Queen, Blaine the Knight, Princess Jordan, Steffan, Samson the baker’s son, Duncan, and Prince Danly while the minor POVs include the knight marshall Osbourne, Sam the baker, the Mordant, and Sir Cardemir. The Steel Queen is the opening volume of The Silk & Steel Saga, which is projected to be five books long. The second volume is called The Flame Priest.

April 15, 2011 marked the Trade Paperback publication of The Steel Queen via Kiralynn Epics—an independent publisher created by the author. The lovely cover art is provided by Greg Bridges.

ANALYSIS: I first heard about Karen Azinger’s The Steel Queen in 2010, when it was supposed to have been published by Harper Voyager. Unfortunately, the deal fell through and the author decided to self-publish the novel. Intrigued by the book, I contacted the author who gladly arranged for a review copy...

The Steel Queen is set amongst the various kingdoms of Erdhe. Eons ago, the war of the wizards occurred and magic was stripped from the land, although meager remnants are still present in parts of the world, like the Castlegard fortification whose walls have survived unscathed for more than thirty generations and the Isle of Souls. The current kingdoms are mostly at peace with each other, but the Mordant from the north seeks to rule all. As a result, a group of knights took sworn oaths to protect the southern kingdoms, forming the Octagon Knights’ brotherhood with Castlegard serving as their base.

After a Prologue set in the kingdom of the Mordant thirty years earlier, The Steel Queen introduces the novel’s principle characters and POVs:

Katherine is the only princess of Castlegard and one of the major POVs. She has four older brothers who share her enthusiasm for swordcraft. Unfortunately, Katherine herself is forbidden from learning the way of the sword and has never understood her role as a princess. She is fondly called the ‘Imp’ and yearns to learn from the Octagon Knights who are famed throughout the lands of Erdhe for their valiance, honor and strength. She wishes to pick up the sword and defend her kingdom from its enemies.

Blaine is a new knight-in-training who aspires to gain the maroon cloak and become an Octagon Knight. He thinks he deserves the cloak and will do just about everything to make it so. However, he will have to face more than just men in his struggle to rise above his stature.

Queen Liandra is the long-ruling queen of Lanverness, one of the richest kingdom in the lands of Erdhe. She faces problems from traitors as well as persecution from the neighboring kingdom who despises Lanverness’ prosperity.

Steffan is a poor nobleman’s son who is striving to become more than his title allows for. His willingness to do about anything to gain what he what he desires lures him to the dark side and makes him a major player of chaos.

Princess Jordan, one of the ‘J’ siblings of the kingdom of Navarre, is to be apprenticed to a secret order of monks, but finds herself lost in a number of ways in a different land.

Samson the baker’s son is a refugee from the land of Coronth, which has been overrun by the Flame religion. Samson is faced with a big traumatic event where he will have to relearn his objectives in life, while also trying to save his country from ruin.

Danly is the second prince of the kingdom of Lanverness. Danly feels undervalued and constrained by his status, but he trys his best to achieve what he believes is his right. This includes reclaiming something that was lost years ago.

Lastly, Duncan is a master archer who lost his eye to a feud in the past—a past that not many know. Duncan looks upon the “J” siblings of Navarre as his children and tries his best to mould them into fine human beings. His past will come to control his future in more ways than he can imagine.

Thus is the table set for The Steel Queen, the opening volume in Karen Azinger’s epic fantasy series, The Silk & Steel Saga. Even though the book features many characters, the author has taken pains to make sure each individual is unique with their own motives and aspirations. Of them all, Liandra was my favorite. Her machinations, lateral thinking and the way she often referred to herself as “we” while speaking to other characters, made her chapters intriguing and I look forward to reading more of her story. I was also impressed with the number of female characters in the book, which resulted in many refreshing role-reversals. On the flipside, because there are so many different POVs, readers might find the book confusing at times, although the appendices do help.

Story-wise, The Steel Queen is a very fun, action-packed read in the vein of Stephen Deas and Jennifer Fallon, highlighted by fast pacing, the right amount of background information & exposition, and plot twists galore. Granted, the author has not really created anything new as far as epic fantasy goes, and the story can be a bit predictable because of the inclusion of certain common tropes, but Karen Azinger showcases potential and deft plotting skills in The Steel Queen—which will prove valuable if she is to orchestrate a five book series—while doing her best to keep the reader engrossed in the novel despite its familiar trappings.

CONCLUSION: Fantasy readers may not be able to find anything new in The Steel Queen, but Karen Azinger’s first novel is nevertheless an impressive debut thanks to fascinating characters, skilled writing, and an engaging story. Fans of traditional epic fantasy will definitely want to take note of The Steel Queen, while its author is a worthy new addition to the genre...