NEWS: Updates on the Forthcoming Ilona Andrews Novels (by Mihir Wanchoo)

After debuting in 2007 with Magic Bites (Reviewed HERE), the first volume in the Kate Daniels urban fantasy series, the husband/wife duo of Ilona Andrews has consistently produced a new Kate Daniels novel every year around the last week of May/first week of June, while also writing The Edge series. During this time, not only have the authors’ novels progressively improved, but their fans have also increased exponentially.

Unfortunately, after this year’s release of Magic Slays (Reviewed HERE)—the fifth book in the Kate Daniels series—the authors revealed that they had been dropped from their UK publisher. To make matters worse, the authors were experiencing an issue with the plot of the sixth book, which is explained in this blog post that was posted on July 18th:

“We don’t really know when Kate 6 will be released. It’s not written yet, and typically I would say “May of next year,” however we’re hitting a storyline snag. For the timeline to make sense, we need a Andrea/Raphael spin-off to happen before Kate 6 takes place. How this is going to work, I have no idea. That’s a conversation we’ll have after FATE’S EDGE edits are turned in and it’s off on its way to publication.”

After the edits for Fate’s Edge were turned in, the authors posted some new information HERE about Kate 6, which is now tentatively scheduled for publication in February 2013:

“We are actually doing this for a good reason. We have Kate 6 pretty much figured out, but for it to work we need to resolve the Andrea situation. The Andrea book is set in Atlanta, and takes place between Magic Slays and Kate 6 timeline wise. Kate & Curran will be in it, but are side characters. It is Andrea’s story, the one where she decides if she will be in the Pack and perhaps more importantly who she will be with romantically. As I said, we have it figured out and we are going with a new villain and mythology. Not sure how much I am allowed to say. Also, for the rest of this year and the next we will be working to put out extra content via eBooks.”

So with this announcement, the current release schedule for the Magic series is as follows:

1) Andrea book—5/31/2012

2) Kate 6—2/2013

3) Jim/Dali book or Kate 7—Late 2012/2013

The bright side to these delays is that the authors will be providing “extra content” to help alleviate the extended wait for the forthcoming releases. This year—most likely—readers we will get to see a Kate & Curran novella, which is described as follows (provided generously and exclusively by the authors):

Sometimes even the Beast Lord and the Consort have to take a break from protecting the Pack. Sometimes they just want to have a nice quiet dinner out in town. And then a necromancer at the nearby table dies, the lose vampires come flying through the glass windows, and before you know it the walls of the restaurant are redecorated in a lovely shade of red. What seems at first to be an unfortunate accident turns into a slow murder of a child. Now Kate and Curran must follow the clues to stop an ancient power intent on revenge. To succeed, they must bargain with Vikings, face horrifying undead, and hardest of all, work with each other!

The events of the novella will be occurring simultaneously with the Andrea novel and will be self-released by the authors. Which just shows much Ilona Andrews cares about their fans! The authors would also like to add a disclaimer that their publisher put no pressure on them in regards to this decision, and that the spin-off was already in the planning stages because the authors were trying to create a storyline that would prove the most satisfying to readers...

Lastly, it seems that a certain someone is taking the credit blame for all of this happening by claiming it was due to his prophetic tweets ;) So please welcome the blogosphere’s newest member, and my friend & fellow UF connoisseur: Bastard!

“A Shot in the Dark” by K.A. Stewart (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official K.A. Stewart Website

Order “A Shot in the Dark” HERE

Read An Excerpt HERE

Read FBC’s Review of “A Devil in the Details”

Read FBC’s Interview with K.A. Stewart

AUTHOR INFORMATION: K.A. Stewart has a BA in English with an emphasis in Literature from William Jewell College. She lives in Missouri with her family and is the author of the Jesse James Dawson series.

OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: Jesse James Dawson is a Champion, putting his life on the line for those foolish enough to bargain with demons and fighting to save their souls. But even a Champion needs some downtime, so Jesse takes his annual camping trip to Colorado for some male bonding over friendly games of paintball.

Unfortunately, the fun and war games are interrupted by a pack of creatures summoned up from the very depths of hell by an entity Jesse prayed he'd never see again. With the lives of his friends and a teenager's soul on the line, Jesse's only hope may lie with an even more dangerous enemy—his personal demon, Axel...

FORMAT/INFO: A Shot in the Dark is 320 pages long divided over twenty chapters. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via Jesse James Dawson. The plot is self-contained like its predecessor, but contains significant spoilers for anyone who has not read the first book. July 5, 2011 marked the North American Mass Market Paperback publication of A Shot In The Dark via Roc.

ANALYSIS: A Shot In The Dark is a sequel to A Devil in the Details, K.A. Stewart’s tremendous debut. A Devil in the Details was actually my favorite debut of 2010, combining terrific characterization with an exciting storyline to give readers a succulent new entry in the Urban Fantasy genre. As a result, K.A. Stewart had quite a task on her hands with the sequel since reader expectations would be higher. Fortunately, A Shot in the Dark does its best to hit all the major highs of the first book, while giving readers a little something extra to differentiate itself...

A Shot in the Dark opens with Jesse James Dawson fighting a demon two years ago. From here, the book fast forwards to the present day where Jesse is enjoying his annual camping trip with family and close friends. Before long, the vacation is interrupted by the arrival of a demon that Jesse barely defeated in the past. This time unfortunately, the demon is accompanied by an army of hungry creatures. Thus begins the second chronicle of Jesse James Dawson, who must face an enemy familiar with Jesse’s weaknesses and past fears.

In many ways, A Shot in the Dark is quite different from its predecessor. For one, A Devil in the Details was more of a standard UF procedural which made the book predictable because of its genre trappings, while A Shot in the Dark has more of a horror feel to it, especially with the story focusing on a small group of characters isolated and holed up against a horde of creatures intent on murdering them. This was certainly a nice plus point for the book, since K.A. Stewart plays the horror elements to the hilt. Also, the sequel is set in the mountains of Colorado opposed to A Devil in the Detail’s Kansas City setting, which might surprise some readers.

Characterization was a major strength in the first book and continues to be a strength in the sequel, led by Jesse James Dawson. Obviously the star of the show, A Shot in the Dark offers greater insight into Jesse’s life, his fight against demons, his family, and his vulnerability. However, the demon Axel—Jesse’s friend/enemy—was a major standout for me in the first book and thankfully he gets a bigger part to play in the sequel. Considering some significant revelations about Axel’s role in the large scheme of things, I believe the demon’s presence will continue to grow with each successive chronicle. Other characters who receive a bigger role in the sequel include Jesse’s wife Mina, his younger brother Cole, and his friends.

Even with all of its positives, A Shot in the Dark had a couple of drawbacks. Namely, some unresolved questions at the end of the book and the incorrect usage of the term “Vetaal”, which comes from Indian mythology and refers to vampiric creatures, not zombies as the novel implies. The last is a small issue on my part that doesn’t detract anything from the book itself.

CONCLUSION: In A Shot In The Dark, K.A. Stewart manages to subvert reader expectations with a sequel that is different from its predecessor, but still very entertaining. In fact, K.A. Stewart easily avoids the dreaded sophomore slump, while establishing the Jesse James Dawson Chronicles as an urban fantasy series that I will be sticking with for the long haul...

See NPR's Choices for Top 100 SFF and Vote for Your 10! (by Liviu Suciu)

From the NPR Site:

"Last month we asked you, our audience, to nominate titles for a top-100 list of the best science fiction and fantasy ever written. The response was overwhelming — almost 5,000 of you posted to the NPR site alone, and many thousands more offered suggestions on Facebook.

We've tabulated those suggestions and, with the help of an expert panel, narrowed the list to a manageable field of a few hundred titles.

Scrolling through the list of great science fiction and fantasy reads below will feel like a journey back in time for some of us, a voyage of discovery for others. But novice or veteran, everyone loves a contest. So, let the voting begin!

Here's how: Everyone gets 10 votes. Select your top 10 favorite titles, and then scroll down to the bottom of the poll and click "Submit." Feel free to lobby for your favorites in the comments. We'll be back in about 10 days with the results."

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

I will present the list below and you can also see it HERE. I estimated about 240 titles - Locus counted 237 so I was close - though considering that many are series, some like the Vorkosigan Saga or the Culture with quite a few volumes, the actual number of books is much larger.

Of everything below I am familiar with almost all and read a fair number, opened but put down another fair number and of course stayed away from another fair number of them. There may be about 3 or 4 titles I do not have an opinion about since I have only vaguely heard of them, but that's about it.

Edit later: I actually counted what books I read end-to-end from the list and I came up with 99 complete series-to-date/single titles and 17 series I read at least one volume from and later dropped, so I read 116 of the listings either fully or in those 17 cases partially.

I was quite pleasantly surprised by the breadth of the list; sure anyone can quibble about this or that - for me it's stuff like Battlefield Earth or Piers Anthony on but no KJ Parker -but I am sure that for anyone into sff there will be at least 10 choices there.

This list while not to be taken that seriously is still a great thing since it exposes a very wide swath of sff to a large audience and I am happy NPR had this initiative. Whichever books get the vote, they get the vote so to speak even if Battlefield Earth would be the top, since the fun is in discussion and your choices. Go and vote HERE:

1632, by Eric Flint
1984, by George Orwell
2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

The Acts Of Caine Series, by Matthew Woodring Stover
The Algebraist, by Iain M. Banks
Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers
Armor, by John Steakley

The Baroque Cycle, by Neal Stephenson
Battlefield Earth, by L. Ron Hubbard
Beggars In Spain, by Nancy Kress
The Belgariad, by David Eddings
The Black Company Series, by Glen Cook
The Black Jewels Series, by Anne Bishop
The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Bridge Of Birds, by Barry Hughart

The Callahan's Series, by Spider Robinson
A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, by Robert Heinlein
Cat's Cradle , by Kurt Vonnegut
The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
The Change Series, by S.M. Stirling
Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
Children Of God, by Mary Doria Russell
The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
The City And The City, by China Mieville
City And The Stars, by Arthur C. Clarke
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
The Coldfire Trilogy, by C.S. Friedman
The Commonwealth Saga, by Peter F. Hamilton
The Company Wars, by C.J. Cherryh
The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
Contact, by Carl Sagan
Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
The Day of Triffids, by John Wyndham
Deathbird Stories, by Harlan Ellison
The Deed of Paksennarion Trilogy, by Elizabeth Moon
The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester
The Deverry Cycle, by Katharine Kerr
Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany
The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
The Difference Engine, by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling
The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
Don't Bite The Sun, by Tanith Lee
Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
Dreamsnake, by Vonda McIntyre
The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

Earth, by David Brin
Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart
The Eisenhorn Omnibus, by Dan Abnett
The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
Eon, by Greg Bear
The Eyes Of The Dragon, by Stephen King
The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

The Faded Sun Trilogy, by C.J. Cherryh
Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser Series, by Fritz Leiber
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
The Female Man, by Joanna Russ
The Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy, by Guy Gavriel Kay
A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
The First Law Trilogy, by Joe Abercrombie
Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
The Foreigner Series, by C.J. Cherryh
The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

The Gaea Trilogy, by John Varley
The Gap Series, by Stephen R. Donaldson
The Gate To Women's Country, by Sheri S. Tepper
Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
The Gone-Away World, by Nick Harkaway
The Gormenghast Triology, by Mervyn Peake
Grass, by Sheri S. Tepper
Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon

The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End of The World, by Haruki Murakami
The Heechee Saga, by Frederik Pohl
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
The Hollows Series, by Kim Harrison
House Of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski
The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
The Illuminatus! Trilogy, by Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson
The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
The Incarnations Of Immortality Series, by Piers Anthony
The Inheritance Trilogy, by N.K. Jemisin

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

Kindred, by Octavia Butler
The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
Kraken, by China Mieville
The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey

Last Call, by Tim Powers
The Last Coin, by James P. Blaylock
The Last Herald Mage Trilogy, by Mercedes Lackey
The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
The Lathe Of Heaven, by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
The Lensman Series, by E.E. Smith
The Liaden Universe Series, by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
The Lies Of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch
Lilith's Brood, by Octavia Butler
Little, Big, by John Crowley
The Liveship Traders Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
Lord Of Light, by Roger Zelazny
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Lord Valentine's Castle, by Robert Silverberg
Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Lud-in-the-Mist, by Hope Mirrlees

The Magicians, by Lev Grossman
The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
The Man In The High Castle, by Philip K. Dick
The Manifold Trilogy, by Stephen Baxter
The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
Memory And Dream, by Charles de Lint
Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn Trilogy, by Tad Williams
Mindkiller, by Spider Robinson
The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
Mordant's Need, by Stephen Donaldson
More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon
The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

The Naked Sun, by Isaac Asimov
The Neanderthal Parallax Trilogy, by Robert J. Sawyer
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
The Newsflesh Triology, by Mira Grant
The Night's Dawn Trilogy, by Peter F. Hamilton
Norstrilia, by Cordwainer Smith
Novels Of The Company, by Kage Baker
The Number Of The Beast, by Robert Heinlein

Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
On Basilisk Station, by David Weber
The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
Oryx And Crake, by Margaret Atwood
The Otherland Tetralogy, by Tad Williams
The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

Parable Of The Sower, by Octavia Butler
The Passage, by Justin Cronin
Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson
Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
The Prestige, by Christopher Priest
The Pride Of Chanur, by C.J. Cherryh
The Prince Of Nothing Trilogy, by R. Scott Bakker
The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

Rainbows End, by Vernor Vinge
Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
Replay, by Ken Grimwood
Revelation Space, by Alistair Reynolds
Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban
The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
Ringworld, by Larry Niven
The Riverworld Series, by Philip Jose Farmer
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

The Saga Of Pliocene Exile, by Julian May
The Saga Of Recluce, by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
The Sarantine Mosaic Series, by Guy Gavriel Kay
A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K. Dick
The Scar, by China Mieville
The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
The Shattered Chain Trilogy, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Sirens Of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
The Snow Queen, by Joan D. Vinge
Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem
Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
Song for the Basilisk, by Patricia McKillip
A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
The Stainless Steel Rat Books, by Harry Harrison
Stand On Zanzibar, by John Brunner
The Stand, by Stephen King
Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
Stations Of The Tide, by Michael Swanwick
Steel Beach, by John Varley
Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
The Swordspoint Trilogy, by Ellen Kushner

The Tales of Alvin Maker, by Orson Scott Card
The Temeraire Series, by Naomi Novik
The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
Tigana , by Guy Gavriel Kay
Time Enough For Love, by Robert Heinlein
The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
To Say Nothing Of The Dog, by Connie Willis
The Troy Trilogy, by David Gemmell

Ubik, by Philip K. Dick
The Uplift Saga, by David Brin

The Valdemar Series, by Mercedes Lackey
VALIS, by Philip K. Dick
Venus On The Half-Shell, by Kilgore Trout/Philip Jose Farmer
The Vlad Taltos Series, by Steven Brust
The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Vurt Trilogy, by Jeff Noon

The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
The Watchmen, by Alan Moore
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak
We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin
The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
When Gravity Fails, by George Alec Effinger
Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
Wild Seed, by Octavia Butler
The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi
World War Z, by Max Brooks
The Worm Ouroboros, by E.R. Edison

The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony

The Yiddish Policeman's Union, by Michael Chabon

Even with my usual "an author only once" rule for lists which took Baroque and Perdido Street Station out since I prefer The Scar and Anathem and it was a struggle to trim to 10 - I regretfully had to leave First Law, Acts of Caine and 1632 out.

These choices reflect my preferences today and what I would recommend if someone not familiar with the genre but wanting books that are current and of quality would ask; there are many older books on the list that were landmarks in their time, but I hold pretty strongly the belief that sff dates quickly so it's better to start with the contemporary authors.

So my 10 votes were:

Culture/Banks
Legacy of Kushiel/Carey
ASOIAF/GRRM
On Basilisk Station/Weber
The Scar/Mieville
Revelation Space/Reynolds
Anathem/Stephenson
20000 Leagues Under the Sea/Verne
The Night's Dawn trilogy/Hamilton
The Vorkosigan Saga/Bujold

“The Third Section” by Jasper Kent (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)

Official Jasper Kent Website
Order “The Third Section” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read FBC’s Review of “Twelve”

Read FBC’s Review of “Thirteen Years Later”

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Jasper Kent attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he earned a degree in Natural Sciences with a specialty in Physics. For over twenty years he has worked as a software consultant & trainer, while writing both fiction and music. His bibliography includes the first three volumes of The Danilov Quintet, two unpublished novels (Yours Etc., Mr Sunday; Sifr), various short stories, a play, and several co-written musicals (Writer's Cramp, Malvolio's Revenge, The Promised Land and Remember! Remember!).

PLOT SUMMARY: Russia, 1855.  After forty years of peace in Europe, war rages. In the Crimea, the city of Sevastopol is besieged. In the north, Saint Petersburg is blockaded. But in Moscow there is one who needs only to sit and wait—wait for the death of an aging tsar, and for the curse upon his blood to be passed to a new generation.

As their country grows weaker, a man and a woman—unaware of the hidden ties that bind them—must come to terms with their shared legacy. In Moscow, Tamara Valentinovna Komarova uncovers a brutal murder. It seems this is not the first killing of its kind, but the most recent in a sequence of similar murders that have been committed since 1812.

And in Sevastopol, Dmitry Alekseevich Danilov faces not only the guns of the combined armies of Britain and France, but must also make a stand against creatures that his father had thought buried beneath the earth, thirty years before...

CLASSIFICATION: Like its predecessors, The Third Section blends historical fiction with vampire horror. Think Bernard Cornwell meets Bram Stoker and Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles meets Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire.

FORMAT/INFO: The Third Section is 476 pages long divided over a Prologue, twenty-seven Roman-numbered chapters, and an Epilogue. Also includes an Author’s Notes, a Selected Romanov Family Tree, information on the Crimean War and His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery, a cartoon from Punch magazine published in 1854, a Map of Sevastopol in 1855, and a list of characters. Narration is in the third-person via three main POVs: Dmitry Alekseevich Danilov, Tamara Valentinovna Komarova, and Vasiliy Innokyentievich Yudin. Like its predecessors, The Third Section is largely self-contained, but is the third volume in The Danilov Quintet after Twelve and Thirteen Years Later. The People’s Will is the working title for the fourth volume in the series.

August 18, 2011 marks the UK Trade Paperback Publication of The Third Section via Bantam Press UK. The US edition will be published by Pyr in October 2011, and will feature the same artwork by Paul Young.

ANALYSIS: Jasper Kent’s Twelve was a remarkable debut, one that I still remember quite vividly. The sequel, Thirteen Years Later, was arguably even better. Following in the footsteps of these two exceptional novels, The Third Section had very large shoes to fill. A feat the book is unable to fully pull off because of two specific problems.

The first of these problems is with the protagonists. In Thirteen Years Later, the author made the switch from Aleksei Danilov’s first-person narrative to multiple third-person POVs. A move I didn’t mind too much since Aleksei remained a main character. Unfortunately, Aleksei Danilov has been demoted to a very minor supporting role in The Third Section. Taking his place as the main protagonists are Aleksei’s son Dmitry Alekseevich Danilov and Tamara Valentinovna Komarova, both of whom had POVs in Thirteen Years Later. Dmitry and Tamara are well-developed characters with interesting backgrounds and fleshed out hopes, desires and regrets. Yet, I never became attached to them the same way I became attached to Aleksei. Third-person narration is partly to blame, lacking the intimacy found in Twelve’s first-person POV that allowed readers to forge a strong emotional connection with Aleksei Danilov. The bigger issue though, lies with the story, which is the novel’s second problem.

Slow pacing, fewer surprises, a noticeable lack of thrills and tension, subplots that fail to deliver, recycled material . . .  The Third Section’s story suffers from all of these issues. The slow pacing can be attributed to a story that spans years—1854-1856—and lacks the immediacy of the first two Danilov novels. The fewer surprises are a result of knowing too much information: Tamara’s real parents, Raisa’s deception, Yudin’s plotting, etc. (I believe parts of The Third Section are much more effective if you haven’t already read Twelve and Thirteen Years Later.) The plot’s pacing issues and lack of a major conflict contribute to The Third Section’s shortage of thrills and tension. (Yudin represents the main villain in The Third Section, but I found him more compelling than either Dmitry or Tamara, while Zmyeevich and the Romanov Curse are hardly a factor because of what happened in the last book.) Unrewarding subplots were a combination of knowing too much, recycled material and questionable decisions with the vampires of Chufut Kalye, Raisa, and Tamara’s parentage specific letdowns. Most disappointing of all was Yudin’s “endgame”, a revenge over forty years in the making that ended with a whimper. Lastly, while it’s interesting to see the numerous ways in which The Third Section and its predecessors are connected despite a thirty and forty-three year gap, I wish the book had not retread over so much familiar territory.

Apart from these problems with the protagonists and story, The Third Section is actually a very good book. The historical elements are once again detailed and realistic; Jasper Kent’s prose and characterization remain top-notch; and the book offers heavy doses of Yudin, a captivating villain who also appeared in the first two books, but under different names.

CONCLUSION: Compared against Twelve and Thirteen Years Later, The Third Section is easily the weakest of Jasper Kent’s three books because of protagonists who are not nearly as compelling as Aleksei Danilov and a slow-paced story lacking in originality and reward. That all said, as the third volume in The Danilov Quintet, The Third Section works well as a bridge novel, helping readers transition between one generation of characters and the next, and I’m confident the series will return to form in the fourth book...

"The Last Four Things" by Paul Hoffman (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Order "The Last Four Things" HERE
Read FBC Review of The Left Hand of God

INTRODUCTION: Last year's The Left Hand of God was a novel that elicited very powerful but mixed responses; there were people that loathed it or thought it's the worst hyped debut of the year and there were people, including myself, that utterly loved it and thought it was awesome. So The Last Four Things was one the five novels I marked as must read, try and get a copy as soon as possible, etc for 2011 though I was a little apprehensive if the "magic" of The Left Hand of God will still be there for me, or the series will be exposed as "emperor's new clothes" as many others have claimed.

Once I opened it and I got entranced once more in the twisted world of Thomas Cale and the Redemeers, I applied my reading method for books I do not want to end - read 100 pages, reread them, read another 100 pages and then read the full 200, etc.

Due to circumstances I was not able to write this review for the earlier UK publication, so I postponed it for today's US publication and that added the time dimension since now after several months I can look back and evaluate it better.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: I want to start by remarking that The Last Four Things is a book that most likely will have the same resonance as The Left Hand of God with the reader. You hated that, don't bother; you loved it, get this asap.

I make this claim since the things that distinguished The Left Hand of God from the run-of-the-mill dark bad boy fantasy that is in vogue today - the alternation of styles, from exuberant to really dark, the mostly superb word plays on the famous and infamous in history, the strange and occasionally merciless undertones and the twists and turns that truly made the next pages unpredictable are still there.

However there are some notable differences too. The Last Four Things has considerably more backstory and world building - and indeed things make sense and hang together eliminating one of my fears after the sketched world of the previous novel, namely that the author's world won't make sense in detail. But it does and here we see things like logistics, speed of communication, population sizes, etc, all adding depth and painting a full 3D picture.

The characters also get more texture, though the third person narrative allows Thomas Cale to still remain a mystery; now he is coming into his own, far from the scared boy genius of The Left of God, to the outwardly confident man that events if not age made him be. His master, tormentor and protector, Redemeer Bosco comes also into his own here and the novel is as much about his plans as about Thomas Cale's odyssey, so now we have two extremely powerful and larger than life characters not only one. And in a partly comic relief, partly wistful role, Kleist gets his own thread too, though I found it less interesting than the main Bosco/Cale one.

The other personages from the debut - Vague Henry, IdrisPukke, Vipond, Arbell and Conn Materazzi, etc - make also appearances and several more secondary but quite interesting characters are introduced too, while some of the scenes between them and Cale are utterly memorable and constitute a key to the ending which is another stunner. There was a point in the book where I thought I know what will happen and how The Last Four Things will end, but the author turned and surprised me once again making the trilogy ending another book to beg and cajole for as early a copy as possible.

"All but the kitchen sink" is still thrown in and The Last Four Things has some stuff that's even more outrageously funny than in The Left Hand of God, so I found myself shaking with laughter often, though the book is also pretty dark and not for the easily offended. The Pyramid of Lincoln and The Protocols of the Moderators of Antagonism - the Bosco ordered forgery to save his and Cale's bacon after the events in The Left Hand of God and Cale's defection - are among the many early "pearls" and the book abounds with these historical allusions as interpreted by the author.

In a very nice touch, the author has a great two page explanation about his sources, including famous philosophers, Catholic thinkers, poets, obscure manuals of war that are available online and one (in)famous speech of Saddam Hussein which seems to be on YouTube, speech that *** cribs in the book before ***. Since it's a Saddam speech, the last **** should be easily guessed at.

After some months have passed from finishing the novel, there is one weakness I missed in the emotion of the first read - The Last Four Things is ultimately a transitional middle book and while it has a clear theme and an ending to one of its main threads, we still remain a bit in the dark where all ultimately will go; as mentioned, I thought I had an idea, but the ending quickly disabused me of that.

Overall The Last Four Things (A++) takes the promise of The Left Hand of God and fulfills it in a more complex book with all the world building that was only hinted there, but keeping the narrative switches and the many twists, while the trilogy finale is something I really want asap...