WORLDWIDE GIVEAWAY: Win a SIGNED COPY of Rachel Aaron’s “The Legend Of Eli Monpress Omnibus”!!!

Official Author Website

Read FBC Review of "The Spirit Thief"

Read FBC review of “The Spirit Rebellion”

Read FBC Review of “The Spirit Eater” and “Spirit’s Oath”

Read FBC’s Interview with Rachel Aaron

In support of the February 24, 2011 North American publication of Rachel Aaron’s “The Legend Of Eli Monpress Omnibus”—Fantasy Book Critic is giving away THREE SIGNED COPIES of “The Legend Of Eli Monpress Omnibus” courtesy of Rachel Aaron and Orbit Books!!! Each winner will also have the opportunity to get their copy personalized (if they want it so)!

To enter, please send an email to fbcgiveaway@gmail.com with your Name, Mailing Address, and the subject: ELI MONPRESS. Giveaway has Ended. Thank you for entering and Good Luck!

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3) Must Enter Valid Email Address, Mailing Address + Name.

4) No Purchase Necessary.

5) Giveaway Has Ended.

6) Winners Will Be Randomly Selected and Notified By Email.

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"Hotel Iris" by Yoko Ogawa (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Yoko Ogawa at Wikipedia
Order Hotel Iris HERE

INTRODUCTION: I have heard of Yoko Ogawa in connection with her most famous novel, translated as The Housekeeper and the Professor. I got a copy of that one a few years ago when it was published here in the US though I have not read it yet, but recently I opened her newest (2010) English translation, Hotel Iris and I was hooked.

"In a crumbling seaside hotel on the coast of Japan, quiet seventeen-year-old Mari works the front desk as her mother tends to the off-season customers. When one night they are forced to expel a middle-aged man and a prostitute from their room, Mari finds herself drawn to the man's voice, in what will become the first gesture of a single long seduction. In spite of her provincial surroundings, and her cool but controlling mother, Mari is a sophisticated observer of human desire, and she sees in this man something she has long been looking for."

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "Hotel Iris" is a short but very compelling first person novel. I think that its distinctive voice makes it so good - lonely, overworked and generally neglected teenager Mari whose widow mother uses as unpaid labor to run their hotel Iris in a Japanese holiday resort by the sea.

So not only was Mari forced to drop out of school a few years back, but she basically has very little time or money for herself and while her mother likes to groom her - after all an attractive face behind the counter brings is better for business than an ugly or unkempt one - she otherwise treats Mari mostly as "property".

"After Grandfather died, Mother made me quit school to help at the hotel. My day begins in the kitchen, getting ready for breakfast. I wash fruit, cut up ham and cheese, and arrange tubs of yogurt in a bowl of ice. As soon as I hear the first guests coming down, I grind the coffee beans and warm the bread. Then, at checkout time, I total the bills. I do all of this while saying as little as possible. Some of the guests try to make small talk, but I just smile back. I find it painful to speak to people I don’t know, and besides, Mother scolds me if I make a mistake with the cash register and the receipts are off."

There is a little backstory about Mari's father who died in an accident/drunken fight some years back at age 31 and whose memory Mari worships as he was the only really kind influence in her life, despite his bouts of drunkenness and fights with her mother.

Given the above, Mari seems to be an easy prey for an older man whom despite his sort of distinguished appearance is first seen when thrown out of the hotel for abusing a prostitute he brought there. Seeing him by chance some two weeks later when out on errand for her mother, Mari follows him and the two are drawn together as unlikely as it seems.

"Then one night my father didn’t come home at all. He was still missing the next day, and my mother scolded me for running out of the lobby again and again to see if he was coming down the street. His body was found late that night, his face so swollen and covered in blood that it was almost unrecognizable. After that, I stopped waiting.

There was nothing of great importance in the translator’s letters—the arrival of summer, his work, the progress of Marie’s romance, references to our walk on the cape—but I enjoyed his formal, slightly peculiar way of expressing himself.

The most important minutes of my day were those spent hidden behind the front desk, poring over his letters. I would cut open the envelope with great care, read the letter three or four times, and then refold it exactly along the creases he had made."

Things however are not that simple and while the man seems to be the classical sexual predator: older, widowed and with rumors of his wife's death being a murder, living by himself in an isolated house on a nearby island which is little populated etc etc, the story definitely does not go that route though it has its share of stuff that may seem twisted.

However, the language is never explicit and the book just flows on the page, while the tension builds page by page as the secret relationship of the two cannot stay secret for ever in such a small place and something will have to give...

Upcoming Baen Books of Interest (by Liviu Suciu)

While A Rising Thunder - the lead March title - is almost here and is already in the 400's in the Amazon rank so almost guaranteeing a top spot on the bestseller lists in the March week of publication, the ebook is already out with my review to come next week, May-August each feature a major Baen book of interest, though the May one seems to be delayed for a while, while I have already read the July one and it is very good.

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May brings No Going Back which is Mark Van Name's 5th Jon & Lobo novel (#3 FBC Rv + discussion of earlier novels, #4 FBC Rv) and one I am really excited about as last year there was no series book and the retired super-soldier with secret powers/sentient spaceship combo has become a huge favorite of mine. This one seems to get into the deep secrets of Jon and the quarantine of his birth planet but I have a feeling Lobo will have its own surprises too.

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The 163* universe is going strong (as this is book #14) and while I have been mixed about the recent side stories and novels and I have not read the Grantville Gazette in a long time, I really enjoyed Bernie Zeppi's Russian saga in the stories from the Gazette, so I am looking forward to "his" novel, though I heard there will be some differences and some major surprises in 1636: The Kremlin Games, which is Baen's lead June title.

I reviewed the recent Eric Flint solo novel 1636: The Saxon Uprising that is part of the backbone of the series and provided an overview of the series to date and I am still a huge fan of the universe and of its main cast which is among the most memorable in recent sff. Most 163* should be available free on the Baen CD site in the Eric Flint CD's like the one for 1635: The Eastern Front.

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In July, David Weber finally proves that he can do pure (more or less as we still have a multiverse and logical magic) fantasy on the level of his superb sf.

Now Safehold is mostly epic fantasy with an AI wizard, but it is also very sfnal in ethos, so the Bazhell or War God's Own series of which War Maid's Choice (earc available to buy here) is #4 is considered his main foray in the genre.

The first three volumes are free on the various newer Baen DW CD's here and while I thought #1 and #2 were light, more humorous and definitely B-level fantasies, the 3rd book started becoming more serious, but it had a very incomplete feel despite resolving its main threads. Now, 8 years later in our universe and 7 in Bazhell's, War Maid's Choice takes the series to a high level of epic and completes the arc started in the 2004 Wind Rider's Oath. I have reviewed and talked about way too many DW books to link all here, so check our Review Index and my recent Empire of Man post.

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Finally in August, Queen of Wands is John Ringo's second foray in UF after the interesting and alternating funny and dark/tragic Princess of Wands of many years ago (you can read this and most Ringo books on his Baen CD's HERE).

Here I will include the blurb as I have not talked about this series so far, but I would like to mention that the middle part of Princess of Wands is just a masterpiece of UF dark humor, though of course some of the targets may not see it that way. Anyway the author kills his alterego too in addition to killing lots of the book persona of other writers and critics and his choice of villain (hint: another Baen writer that dabbled in long winded high fantasy) is also really funny in quite a few ways. I am really curious about Queen of Wands as UF is not my cup of tea while Mr. Ringo's recent offerings have also been away from my preferences.

"Soccer mom and demon fighter Barbara Everette is back in this intricately interwoven monster noir thriller, the sequel to bestselling Princess of Wands by eight times New York Times best-seller, John Ringo.

Barbara Everette has a problem. It seems Janea, Barbara’s assistant and The Foundation for Love and Universal Faith's best operative, has been thrown into a coma by some very nasty magic she’s stirred up. Barbara must track down the perpetrators and break the spell or Janea's soul will be forever lost on the astral plane. Oh, and if she can't break the spell, zombies will destroy all mankind.

Meanwhile, Janea, a high-dollar call girl, stripper and High Priestess of Freya when she isn’t fighting demons, must contend with a spiritual journey of her own. It’s a journey into Janea’s acceptance of herself in all her dimensions (and what dimensions they are!). Where to locate one’s true inner essence? At a science fiction convention, of course. But when rescuers pursue Janea into her vision of a geeky alternate reality, we find this is one science fiction convention where the Guest of Honor could turn out to be Death Himself.

Finally, the Christian soccer mom and the Norse priestess stripper face their greatest challenge ever when an ancient Old One rears Her ugly face, and the Mother of Darkness walks among us. Since this is one Mother who is quite immune to any conventional power, including nuclear weapons, it seems humanity’s only hope is God.

The question being: Is God willing to save humanity? Fortunately for the rest of us, Barbara and Janea are determined to fight to the last ounce of faith to find out."

"The Face of Another" by Kobo Abe ( a short review by Liviu Suciu)

Kobo Abe at Wikipedia
Order The Face of Another HERE

INTRODUCTION: Originally published in Japan in 1964, and translated in English by John Saunders in 1966, The Face of Another has been reprinted in 2003 and released in electronic form in 2011. While before this one, I have read only Kobo Abe's most famous novel "The Woman in the Dunes" quite a few years ago, I have always kept (some of) the author's books nearby as they seemed to be precisely the kind of novel that appeals to me - "interesting" would be the short hand, though the author's style (and the translation of course) also needs to match my sensibilities. Here is the blurb:

"Like an elegantly chilling postscript to The Metamorphosis, this classic of postwar Japanese literature describes a bizarre physical transformation that exposes the duplicities of an entire world. The narrator is a scientist hideously deformed in a laboratory accident–a man who has lost his face and, with it, his connection to other people. Even his wife is now repulsed by him.

His only entry back into the world is to create a mask so perfect as to be undetectable. But soon he finds that such a mask is more than a disguise: it is an alternate self–a self that is capable of anything. A remorseless meditation on nature, identity and the social contract, The Face of Another is an intellectual horror story of the highest order."

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The Face of Another is a difficult novel to talk about in a "review style" post and it is one of those books that really benefit from a deeper critical analysis that presumes one is familiar with it. Its main idea is simple - a scientist gets burned by liquid nitrogen and his face becomes ruined so he starts trying to get an artificial one as close as possible to lifelike; in the process he splits his identity in two - the "original" and the "mask" and they start to compete for the affections of his wife.

However the novel is much, much more than that, as it is a meditation on identity, on what it means to be human, on what visual impressions - including skin color for example - mean and how they ultimately shape our destiny.

"Of course, I intended to try. Rather than run aimlessly away, it would be best, I suppose, to face the situation squarely and get used to it once and for all. If I made nothing of it, then surely no one else would either. With this thought in mind, and of my own accord, I had made my face the subject of conversation at the Institute. I had compared myself, for example, to the masked monsters of television, deliberately exaggerated. I had stressed the advantages of seeing-without-being-seen—since my expression was inscrutable to others—and appeared amused by the whole thing. To accustom others to my face was the best short cut to getting used to it myself.

The stratagem seemed to work. I was then able to get along at the laboratory with no sense of constraint. There is more to those popular masked monsters, too, than appears; I began to understand why they turn up over and over again in comic books and on television. My mask itself—were it not for the scars underneath, spreading like webs—was comfortable enough. If covering our bodies with clothes represents a cultural step forward, there is no guarantee that in the future masks will not be taken equally for granted. Even now they are often used in important ceremonies and festivals. I do not quite know how to put it, but I wonder if a mask, being universal, enhances our relations with others more than does the naked face."

Structured as a three notebook tale told to his wife - and with lots of additional notes that have been added to the notebooks "later" and are generally written using italic, so adding to the sense of immediacy and authenticity - and a prologue that needs rereading at least once, when you get a feel for the book - the novel takes place in a Japanese city in the 1960's but outside of a few details - apartments, workplaces, transportation - and of course the available technology/knowledge about skin cells and the like, it is really timeless and place-less.

There are moments of utter brilliance and moments where you feel the book goes towards the deep end in self-pity and even madness; worth reading if only for the meditations on the subjects above - you will come with a deeper appreciation of how much our physical appearance defines us - but I found it a superb read overall and I highly recommend it.

Book 5 of the Superb Empire of Man series by John Ringo and David Weber is Finally in the Works (by Liviu Suciu)

Read all four series books to date HERE.

A bit unexpected but quite an exciting tidbit has been reported in various places a few days ago.

John Ringo just had an announcement that he completed - finally, after years of constant bugging - the synopsis for the 5th Prince Roger (Empire of Man) novel which goes now to David Weber for tweaks/approval/etc and hopefully in 2-3 years we will have the book.

So I just reread the first 4 books (March Upcountry, March to the Sea, March to the Stars, We Few) and I remembered again how much I love this series - the combination of interstellar intrigue and space battles (first 100 pages of March Upcountry, last 100 pages of March to the Stars and all of We Few) and the action on the primitive planet of Marduk with the superb world building, fascinating cultures, crazy battles on land and on sea and dangerous fauna (March Upcountry from page 100 on till last 100 pages of March to the Stars).

I plan to have a review of the series here soon as incidentally I plan to review soon another David Weber series that has been moving again after an 8 years hiatus (Bazhell or War God's Own series where the 4th book, War Maid's Choice is due in July but available now to buy as an e-arc HERE).

But just as a hint why the Empire of Man series is so good, I would mention memorable characters and wrenching moments - in every book at least one "main" character dies and only a few survive from the almost 200 that are marooned on Marduk, while of course in We Few this continues, though also new important characters are introduced in each book.

While We Few ends on a great note and closes the arc of the first 4 novels decisively, as Mr. Ringo put it, our main hero Prince Roger "has promises to keep" from the previous books so it is time to fulfill them and of course there is the little matter of the civil war he inherits...

Anyway the first 4 books are free at the Baen CD place on any newer CD like the one for Mission of Honor and I am really looking forward to the next books whenever they will be out - I kind of doubted for a long time that there will be more and while I sure wanted that, the first 4 books have enough closure to keep me happy but now I am really excited as this series is on par with the best out there.

As Mr. Ringo puts it colorfully (see here):

"-I recently reread the series. When I got done I walked into the living room and growled at Miriam. 'These God Damned writers! How can they just LEAVE it that way! Roger has PROMISES TO KEEP! WHERE THE HELL IS THE SEQUEL!!!!?'"