An imageset of this photos including 10 high res photos is now available for just 9$ -
Best High Heeled Greetings & Kisses
- Vivian
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
6 inch High Heels with an Ankle Strap - barefeet
An imageset of this photos including 10 high res photos is now available for just 9$ -
Best High Heeled Greetings & Kisses
- Vivian
Monday, January 17, 2011
Four More Notable 2011 Upcoming Novels: Daniel Abraham (2), "James Corey", MJ Locke, Mark Hodder (by Liviu Suciu)
Continuing the upcoming releases 2011 posts (HERE are links to my previous 7 posts on the topic), here are four more novels that are of high interest. I have finished two of them and I am reading the other two with full reviews here in due course, so for now a peak at what they are about.
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In June 2011, Orbit will publish Leviathan Wakes the series debut from established fantasy author Daniel Abraham and newcomer Ty Franck, written under the pen name James Corey. This is Solar System high level adventure set some 2-3 centuries ahead and it is just superb, as good as space sf gets without ftl, with great world building, characters, high drama and lots of action. A superb ending giving a full reading experience put Leviathan Wakes on my provisional top 2011 novel list as top sf and it will be hard to beat in the genre.
Somewhat of a surprise for me, but this novel has everything that made sf my favorite genre for 15+ years and even today when fantasy out-breadths it by a lot and I am quite jaded in it with too many books being "I've seen this already, would have been impressive 10-15 years ago for me", when a special novel like Leviathan Wakes comes, I am reminded why sf is *the* literature of our age, the only literary medium through which our fears and hopes as *the human race* are reflected.
Highly, highly recommended and while the full review will come here later in the year, you can read more about why I rave about this novel on Goodreads (of course the mini review there is rough and not that much edited, just a first impression sketch, but as usual no real spoilers).
Official blurb, accurate as it goes below:
Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.
Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.
Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer, Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.
Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.
********************************************************************************
And speaking of Daniel Abraham, his traditional fantasy series debut The Dragon's Path will be published in April 2011 by Orbit also. The first novel of The Dagger and the Coin series, this is traditional fantasy at its best; nothing really fancy as world building or story goes, but great execution with characters and world that make a pleasure reading about and one wants to revisit as soon as possible.
For me this was as good as epic secondary world fantasy that is not in the "new gritty/weird/early modern world" style/content goes and another A++ with a guaranteed inclusion on my top 2011 list. While offering a satisfying reading experience from a completeness point of view, this one needs more the sequels for full appreciation than say Leviathan Wakes above since in large parts it sets the stage for what is to come. As usual more rambling thoughts on Goodreads, full review in due course and official blurb - accurate as it goes - below:
"Summer is the season of war in the Free Cities.
Marcus wants to get out before the fighting starts. His hero days are behind him and simple caravan duty is better than getting pressed into service by the local gentry. Even a small war can get you killed. But a captain needs men to lead -- and his have been summarily arrested and recruited for their swords.
Cithrin has a job to do -- move the wealth of a nation across a war zone. An orphan raised by the bank, she is their last hope of keeping the bank's wealth out of the hands of the invaders. But she's just a girl and knows little of caravans, war, and danger. She knows money and she knows secrets, but will that be enough to save her in the coming months?
Geder, the only son of a noble house is more interested in philosophy than swordplay. He is a poor excuse for a soldier and little more than a pawn in these games of war. But not even he knows what he will become of the fires of battle. Hero or villain? Small men have achieved greater things and Geder is no small man.
Falling pebbles can start a landslide. What should have been a small summer spat between gentlemen is spiraling out of control. Dark forces are at work, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon's Path -- the path of war"
********************************************************************************
In March 2011, Pyr will publish Mark Hodder's The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man (Burton and Swinburne 2).
I am currently reading this and will update here when done with review in due course, but so far this one turned out to be what I expected The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack to be and it was only partly with a quite rough first half followed by a much better second half, though even there with some so-so scenes like villain and hero declaiming stuff when crossing swords.
Here the author hits his stride from page one and while I will have a final evaluation when done, this one is a major improvement as style, pacing and balance go.
Official blurb below:
From a haunted mansion to Bedlam madhouse, South America to Australia, séances to a labyrinth, Burton struggles with opponents and inner demons, as he meets the philosopher Herbert Spencer, Florence Nightingale, and the father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Update Feb 15: The Clockwork Man continues and expands on the Spring Heeled Jack story with which the author debuted; in a quite changed world of 1862, Sir Francis Burton now king's investigator and his assistant Algernon Swinburne, plus a motley cast including beggar/philosopher Herbert Spencer, various policemen and special agents of the Crown have to deal with new threats to "life as we know it" different from the events in the first volume, but related in subtle ways .
Starting innocuously with a robbery, a chase and some interesting events, followed by an excursion into seeming supernatural when Burton is drawn into the investigation of a missing aristocrat supposed return, the novel explodes into full sf action in the last part ending on a great note that promises a lot to come.
As opposed to the somewhat unbalanced first volume, this one is much more coherent and the author manages the transitions between narrative phases much better; there is still a bit of disconnect in the middle when the story jumps a little in time, jump that is quite abrupt breaking the flow of the story, and Burton is still a bit on the wooden side without a clear distinctive personality, but overall The Clockwork Man (A+) is a marked improvement on the first book making me a clear follower of the series for the foreseeable future
Will add the full FBC review in several weeks closer to the publication date
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(cover may change)
In March 2011, Tor will publish "Up Against It", the debut novel from MJ Locke about which I had no idea it existed until my FBC co-editor Robert sent me his review copy as more suited to my taste than his.
The blurb with action on an asteroid in the moderate future seemed "standard sfnal adventure limited resource human grouping in enclosed small habitat, whether asteroid or orbital habitat" as for example Mary Rosenblum's quite good Horizons of 2007 or say the late 90's novels of Howard Hendrix like the recently reissued Standing Wave, so I was unsure if I would be interested - as per my comment about a lot of sf being "read that, done with such, unless the book has something to really attract me" above - but on opening it I was hooked by its style so I am currently reading it too and I plan to have a full review closer to its publication date and an update here when done in the near future.
The official blurb that seems accurate so far below, while I want to emphasize that the book flows superbly so far and it grabbed me from page one which is what I want from an unknown book.
********************************************************************************
In June 2011, Orbit will publish Leviathan Wakes the series debut from established fantasy author Daniel Abraham and newcomer Ty Franck, written under the pen name James Corey. This is Solar System high level adventure set some 2-3 centuries ahead and it is just superb, as good as space sf gets without ftl, with great world building, characters, high drama and lots of action. A superb ending giving a full reading experience put Leviathan Wakes on my provisional top 2011 novel list as top sf and it will be hard to beat in the genre.
Somewhat of a surprise for me, but this novel has everything that made sf my favorite genre for 15+ years and even today when fantasy out-breadths it by a lot and I am quite jaded in it with too many books being "I've seen this already, would have been impressive 10-15 years ago for me", when a special novel like Leviathan Wakes comes, I am reminded why sf is *the* literature of our age, the only literary medium through which our fears and hopes as *the human race* are reflected.
Highly, highly recommended and while the full review will come here later in the year, you can read more about why I rave about this novel on Goodreads (of course the mini review there is rough and not that much edited, just a first impression sketch, but as usual no real spoilers).
Official blurb, accurate as it goes below:
Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond - but the stars are still out of our reach.
Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for - and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.
Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer, Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.
Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations - and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.
********************************************************************************
And speaking of Daniel Abraham, his traditional fantasy series debut The Dragon's Path will be published in April 2011 by Orbit also. The first novel of The Dagger and the Coin series, this is traditional fantasy at its best; nothing really fancy as world building or story goes, but great execution with characters and world that make a pleasure reading about and one wants to revisit as soon as possible.
For me this was as good as epic secondary world fantasy that is not in the "new gritty/weird/early modern world" style/content goes and another A++ with a guaranteed inclusion on my top 2011 list. While offering a satisfying reading experience from a completeness point of view, this one needs more the sequels for full appreciation than say Leviathan Wakes above since in large parts it sets the stage for what is to come. As usual more rambling thoughts on Goodreads, full review in due course and official blurb - accurate as it goes - below:
"Summer is the season of war in the Free Cities.
Marcus wants to get out before the fighting starts. His hero days are behind him and simple caravan duty is better than getting pressed into service by the local gentry. Even a small war can get you killed. But a captain needs men to lead -- and his have been summarily arrested and recruited for their swords.
Cithrin has a job to do -- move the wealth of a nation across a war zone. An orphan raised by the bank, she is their last hope of keeping the bank's wealth out of the hands of the invaders. But she's just a girl and knows little of caravans, war, and danger. She knows money and she knows secrets, but will that be enough to save her in the coming months?
Geder, the only son of a noble house is more interested in philosophy than swordplay. He is a poor excuse for a soldier and little more than a pawn in these games of war. But not even he knows what he will become of the fires of battle. Hero or villain? Small men have achieved greater things and Geder is no small man.
Falling pebbles can start a landslide. What should have been a small summer spat between gentlemen is spiraling out of control. Dark forces are at work, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon's Path -- the path of war"
********************************************************************************
In March 2011, Pyr will publish Mark Hodder's The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man (Burton and Swinburne 2).
I am currently reading this and will update here when done with review in due course, but so far this one turned out to be what I expected The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack to be and it was only partly with a quite rough first half followed by a much better second half, though even there with some so-so scenes like villain and hero declaiming stuff when crossing swords.
Here the author hits his stride from page one and while I will have a final evaluation when done, this one is a major improvement as style, pacing and balance go.
Official blurb below:
From a haunted mansion to Bedlam madhouse, South America to Australia, séances to a labyrinth, Burton struggles with opponents and inner demons, as he meets the philosopher Herbert Spencer, Florence Nightingale, and the father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Update Feb 15: The Clockwork Man continues and expands on the Spring Heeled Jack story with which the author debuted; in a quite changed world of 1862, Sir Francis Burton now king's investigator and his assistant Algernon Swinburne, plus a motley cast including beggar/philosopher Herbert Spencer, various policemen and special agents of the Crown have to deal with new threats to "life as we know it" different from the events in the first volume, but related in subtle ways .
Starting innocuously with a robbery, a chase and some interesting events, followed by an excursion into seeming supernatural when Burton is drawn into the investigation of a missing aristocrat supposed return, the novel explodes into full sf action in the last part ending on a great note that promises a lot to come.
As opposed to the somewhat unbalanced first volume, this one is much more coherent and the author manages the transitions between narrative phases much better; there is still a bit of disconnect in the middle when the story jumps a little in time, jump that is quite abrupt breaking the flow of the story, and Burton is still a bit on the wooden side without a clear distinctive personality, but overall The Clockwork Man (A+) is a marked improvement on the first book making me a clear follower of the series for the foreseeable future
Will add the full FBC review in several weeks closer to the publication date
********************************************************************************
(cover may change)In March 2011, Tor will publish "Up Against It", the debut novel from MJ Locke about which I had no idea it existed until my FBC co-editor Robert sent me his review copy as more suited to my taste than his.
The blurb with action on an asteroid in the moderate future seemed "standard sfnal adventure limited resource human grouping in enclosed small habitat, whether asteroid or orbital habitat" as for example Mary Rosenblum's quite good Horizons of 2007 or say the late 90's novels of Howard Hendrix like the recently reissued Standing Wave, so I was unsure if I would be interested - as per my comment about a lot of sf being "read that, done with such, unless the book has something to really attract me" above - but on opening it I was hooked by its style so I am currently reading it too and I plan to have a full review closer to its publication date and an update here when done in the near future.
The official blurb that seems accurate so far below, while I want to emphasize that the book flows superbly so far and it grabbed me from page one which is what I want from an unknown book.
Geoff and his friends live in Phocaea, a distant asteroid colony on the Solar System's frontier. They're your basic high-spirited young adults, enjoying such pastimes as hacking matter compilers to produce dancing skeletons that prance through the low-gee communal areas, using their rocket-bikes to salvage methane ice shrapnel that flies away when the colony brings in a big (and vital) rock of the stuff, and figuring out how to avoid the ubiquitous surveillance motes that are the million eyes of 'Stroiders, a reality-TV show whose Earthside producers have paid handsomely for the privilege of spying on every detail of the Phocaeans' lives.
Life isn’t as good as it seems, though. A mysterious act of sabotage kills Geoff's brother Carl and puts the entire colony at risk. And in short order, we discover that the whole thing may have been cooked up by the Martian mafia, as a means of executing a coup and turning Phocaea into a client-state. As if that wasn't bad enough, there's a rogue AI that was spawned during the industrial emergency and slipped through the distracted safeguards, and a giant x-factor in the form of the Viridians, a transhumanist cult that lives in Phocaea's bowels.
In addition to Geoff, our story revolves around Jane, the colony's resource manager -- a bureaucrat engineer in charge of keeping the plumbing running on an artificial island of humanity poised on the knife-edge of hard vacuum and unforgiving space. She's more than a century old, and good at her job, but she is torn between the technical demands of the colony and the political realities of her situation, in which the fishbowl effect of 'Stroiders is compounded by a reputation economy that turns every person into a beauty contest competitor. Her maneuverings to keep politics and engineering in harmony are the heart of the book.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
“Deep State” by Walter Jon Williams (Reviewed by Robert Thompson)
Official Walter Jon Williams Website
Order “Deep State” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of “This Is Not A Game”
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Walter Jon Williams has been nominated repeatedly for every major SF award, including Hugo and Nebula Award nominations for his novel City on Fire. His most recent books include the Dread Empire’s Fall series, Implied Spaces and This Is Not A Game. He has also written both fiction and rulebooks for the roleplaying games, Privateers and Gentlemen and Cyberpunk.
PLOT SUMMARY: By day, Dagmar Shaw orchestrates vast games with millions of players spanning continents. By night, she tries to forget the sound of a city collapsing in flames around her. She tries to forget the faces of her friends as they died in front of her. She tries to forget the blood on her own hands.
But then an old friend approaches Dagmar with a project. The project he pitches is so insane and so ambitious, she can't possibly say no. But this new venture will lead her from the world of alternate-reality gaming to one even more complex. A world in which the players are soldiers and spies and the name of the game is survival...
FORMAT/INFO: Deep State is 416 pages long divided over a Prologue, three Acts and seventeen numbered chapters. Also includes an excerpt from Master Baby Head, the upcoming third Dagmar Shaw novel. Narration is in the third-person, exclusively via the protagonist Dagmar Shaw, except for the Prologue. Deep State takes place three years after the events of This Is Not A Game, but like its predecessor, is self-contained. February 3, 2011 & February 7, 2011 marks the UK/North American publication of Deep State via Orbit.
ANALYSIS: A smart, entertaining, and skillfully written techno-thriller, Walter Jon Williams’ This Is Not A Game was one of the best novels I read in 2009. So naturally, when I heard the author was writing another book featuring Dagmar Shaw, the heroine from This Is Not A Game, I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, Deep State was not nearly as enjoyable to read as its predecessor.
The main problem I had with Deep State, was the story. In This Is Not A Game, Walter Jon Williams cleverly explored how alternate reality gaming (ARGs) could help solve real-world problems like extracting a person from a third-world country suffering from currency collapse, finding a murderer, and preventing a financial crisis, all while delivering a story that was not only intelligent and relevant, but also highly entertaining. In fact, for most of the time that I was reading This Is Not A Game, I felt like I was watching a big-budget Hollywood action-thriller. Deep State on the other hand, was more like watching a documentary or a movie on The History Channel. Using the alternate reality gaming model to stage a revolution in a country under the rule of a military dictatorship, Deep State is mostly set in Turkey, and is rife with political, historical and cultural details about the country and its citizens. Of course, as informational as all of this was, it just wasn’t entertaining. To compound the problem, the whole ARG concept felt less interesting the second time around, while weak subplots involving murder, treachery, a Scottish actor named Ian Attila Gordon, and the High Zap—“the Internet equivalent of a thermonuclear bomb”—failed to add anything of value to a story already suffering from a transparent lack of excitement. Finally, the conclusion to Deep State, which included the outcome of the revolution in Turkey and defeating the High Zap, was disappointingly sudden and anticlimactic.
Apart from the story however, I can’t really complain. Like its predecessor, Deep State is an extremely well-written novel led by crisp dialogue, accomplished prose and brisk pacing. Supporting characters may lack depth, but they make up for it with distinctive personalities, while Walter Jon Williams convincingly captures the pain and torment that haunts Dagmar Shaw because of what happened to her in This Is Not A Game. On top of that, the subject matter in Deep State is once again topical and thought-provoking, perhaps even more than its predecessor.
In the end though, the excellent This Is Not A Game was a tough act to follow, and even though the writing in Walter Jon Williams’ Deep State was on par with the first book, the story and degree of entertainment were not. As a result, Deep State is one of the biggest disappointments of the year...
Order “Deep State” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of “This Is Not A Game”
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Walter Jon Williams has been nominated repeatedly for every major SF award, including Hugo and Nebula Award nominations for his novel City on Fire. His most recent books include the Dread Empire’s Fall series, Implied Spaces and This Is Not A Game. He has also written both fiction and rulebooks for the roleplaying games, Privateers and Gentlemen and Cyberpunk.
PLOT SUMMARY: By day, Dagmar Shaw orchestrates vast games with millions of players spanning continents. By night, she tries to forget the sound of a city collapsing in flames around her. She tries to forget the faces of her friends as they died in front of her. She tries to forget the blood on her own hands.
But then an old friend approaches Dagmar with a project. The project he pitches is so insane and so ambitious, she can't possibly say no. But this new venture will lead her from the world of alternate-reality gaming to one even more complex. A world in which the players are soldiers and spies and the name of the game is survival...
FORMAT/INFO: Deep State is 416 pages long divided over a Prologue, three Acts and seventeen numbered chapters. Also includes an excerpt from Master Baby Head, the upcoming third Dagmar Shaw novel. Narration is in the third-person, exclusively via the protagonist Dagmar Shaw, except for the Prologue. Deep State takes place three years after the events of This Is Not A Game, but like its predecessor, is self-contained. February 3, 2011 & February 7, 2011 marks the UK/North American publication of Deep State via Orbit.
ANALYSIS: A smart, entertaining, and skillfully written techno-thriller, Walter Jon Williams’ This Is Not A Game was one of the best novels I read in 2009. So naturally, when I heard the author was writing another book featuring Dagmar Shaw, the heroine from This Is Not A Game, I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, Deep State was not nearly as enjoyable to read as its predecessor.
The main problem I had with Deep State, was the story. In This Is Not A Game, Walter Jon Williams cleverly explored how alternate reality gaming (ARGs) could help solve real-world problems like extracting a person from a third-world country suffering from currency collapse, finding a murderer, and preventing a financial crisis, all while delivering a story that was not only intelligent and relevant, but also highly entertaining. In fact, for most of the time that I was reading This Is Not A Game, I felt like I was watching a big-budget Hollywood action-thriller. Deep State on the other hand, was more like watching a documentary or a movie on The History Channel. Using the alternate reality gaming model to stage a revolution in a country under the rule of a military dictatorship, Deep State is mostly set in Turkey, and is rife with political, historical and cultural details about the country and its citizens. Of course, as informational as all of this was, it just wasn’t entertaining. To compound the problem, the whole ARG concept felt less interesting the second time around, while weak subplots involving murder, treachery, a Scottish actor named Ian Attila Gordon, and the High Zap—“the Internet equivalent of a thermonuclear bomb”—failed to add anything of value to a story already suffering from a transparent lack of excitement. Finally, the conclusion to Deep State, which included the outcome of the revolution in Turkey and defeating the High Zap, was disappointingly sudden and anticlimactic.
Apart from the story however, I can’t really complain. Like its predecessor, Deep State is an extremely well-written novel led by crisp dialogue, accomplished prose and brisk pacing. Supporting characters may lack depth, but they make up for it with distinctive personalities, while Walter Jon Williams convincingly captures the pain and torment that haunts Dagmar Shaw because of what happened to her in This Is Not A Game. On top of that, the subject matter in Deep State is once again topical and thought-provoking, perhaps even more than its predecessor.
In the end though, the excellent This Is Not A Game was a tough act to follow, and even though the writing in Walter Jon Williams’ Deep State was on par with the first book, the story and degree of entertainment were not. As a result, Deep State is one of the biggest disappointments of the year...
Thursday, January 13, 2011
“The Fallen Blade” by Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Reviewed by Robert Thompson & Liviu Suciu)
Official Jon Courtenay Grimwood Website
Order “The Fallen Blade” HERE + HERE (UK)\
Read FBC Review of End of the World Blues
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Jon Courtenay Grimwood is a British science fiction author whose bibliography includes the Arabesk trilogy, 9tail Fox, and the End of the World Blues which won the British Science Fiction Award. He also won the British Science Fiction Award for Felaheen, and has been short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award—twice, the British Fantasy Award, and the John W. Campbell Award. The Fallen Blade is Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s fantasy debut.
PLOT SUMMARY: It is the year 1407. Venice is at the height of its power. In theory, Marco IV commands, but the Duke is a simpleton so his aunt and uncle—Duchess Alexa and Prince Alonzo—rule in his stead. Within the Serene Republic, their word is law, but for all their influence, Venice's fate still lies in other hands...
Lady Giulietta is the Duke's cousin. She enjoys greater privilege than many can even dream of, but her status will demand a terrible price.
Atilo Il Mauros is head of the Scuola degli Assassini, assassins who secretly enforce Venice's will—both at home and abroad.
Prince Leopold zum Bas Friedland is the bastard son of the German emperor and leader of the krieghund—the only force in Venice more feared than the Assassini.
And then there is Atilo's silver-haired apprentice. Only a boy, Tycho is already stronger and faster than any man has a right to be. He can also see in the dark and has no scent, but sunlight burns him and he fears water. Some believe he is a fallen angel. Others, a demon. Only by embracing his true nature, can Venice be saved...
CLASSIFICATION: Combining alternate history with the supernatural, The Fallen Blade is kind of like Jasper Kent’s Twelve/Thirteen Years Later with Anne Rice’s vampires and Underworld’s lycans, while written in the style of Glen Cook.
FORMAT/INFO: The Fallen Blade is 464 pages long divided over two Parts, sixty-three numbered chapters, and an Epilogue. Also includes a map, the Millioni family tree, Dramatis Personae, an interview with the author, and an excerpt from Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold. Narration is in the third person via Tycho, Atilo Il Mauros, Lady Giulietta dei San Felice di Millioni, Captain Roderigo, Iacopo, etc. The Fallen Blade is Act One of the Assassini Trilogy, but for the most part reads like a self-contained novel with the book coming to a satisfying stopping point.
January 27, 2011 and February 3, 2011 marks the US/UK Trade Paperback publication of The Fallen Blade via Orbit Books. Cover artwork provided by Larry Rostant.
ROBERT’S ANALYSIS: It’s been five years since Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s last novel was published, the British Science Fiction Award-winning End of the World Blues (Reviewed HERE). That book actually happens to be the only Jon Courtenay Grimwood novel I’ve ever read, but I absolutely loved it, and have every intention of going through the author’s backlist as soon as I can. That said, fantasy will always be my first love, so when I heard Jon Courtenay Grimwood was making his fantasy debut with The Fallen Blade, the book instantly became one of my most anticipated releases of 2011...
The first thing readers should understand about The Fallen Blade is that the book is an alternate history novel set in a 15th-century Venice ruled by Marco Polo’s descendants. I’m not the biggest fan of alternate history/historical fiction, but Jon Courtenay Grimwood does a tremendous job of creating a living, breathing Renaissance Venice that feels as convincing as the real thing, and is one of the novel’s greatest strengths. I particularly loved the amount of detail the author uses to establish the Millioni family and their complex political situation, which includes Duchess Alexa and Prince Alonzo vying for control of the throne, their trade routes coveted by the Mamluks, the Millioni declared as false princes by the Pope, and threats from the Germans, the Byzantines and Timur’s Mongols. Admittedly, it’s sometimes difficult to process all of the information that Jon Courtenay Grimwood throws at you, especially because of the manner in which he feeds readers info in tiny bits and pieces, but at the same time, it’s easy to become invested in the Renaissance Venice that the author has imagined.
Now if there is one thing negative to say about Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s Venice, it’s that the setting sometimes overshadows the rest of the book. This is most evident regarding The Fallen Blade’s fantasy elements—including a vampire, werewolves (krieghund) and a witch (stregoi)—which only accounts for a small percentage of the novel. What’s so disappointing about the book’s fantasy elements is that Jon Courtenay Grimwood hardly spends any time at all explaining their purpose or presence, making them feel more like an accessory than an integral part of the novel. I can understand the mysteriousness surrounding Tycho since most of the characters in the book don’t know what he is, including Tycho himself, but what about the krieghund or the witch A’rial? Fortunately, the fantasy stuff picks up during the novel’s climax, and I’m hopeful it’s a preview of things to come in the sequel.
Characters meanwhile, are memorable and intriguing, led by Lady Giuletta and the silver-haired boy Tycho, while Lady Desdaio is the book’s most surprising character because she’s a supporting player who heavily factors into many of the novel’s most important moments. To be honest, characterization in The Fallen Blade is not particularly deep, and the characters would not be nearly as interesting if not for an unpredictable plot that forces the book’s characters through a series of engaging, life-altering circumstances. Take Lady Giuletta for example, who runs away to avoid a political marriage, becomes part of an assassination plot against the king of Cyprus, is abducted, and then falls in love with an enemy. The rest of the characters have their own issues to deal with, and seeing what drama unfolds and how they handle their situations is definitely one of the novel’s highlights.
Writing-wise, The Fallen Blade is a tale of two sides. On the one hand, Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s world-building is convincing and immersive, and I was impressed by the author’s ability to manage the novel’s many different characters and subplots without losing control. On the other hand, Jon Courtenay Grimwood makes a number of questionable narrative decisions over the course of the novel. Like the uneven manner in which he shifts between viewpoints, with extended periods sometimes passing by before returning to a character—Atilo Il Mauros for instance. Or how viewpoints are provided for minor characters like Captain Roderigo and Iacopo as opposed to more important characters such as Lady Desdaio or Prince Leopold zum Bas Friedland. Or the author’s decision to skip over most of Tycho’s Assassini training and the months Lady Giulietta and Prince Leopold spent together, which I felt were very significant moments in the novel that deserved a more indepth account.
I should also point out that Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s writing style in The Fallen Blade is very reminiscent of Glen Cook’s writing style from his Instrumentalities of the Night series. Including sparse prose, moments of telling instead of showing, and a noticeable level of detachment that is present in the storytelling and characterization. Personally, this wasn’t an issue for me as I’m a huge fan of Glen Cook’s work, but for others, this could be a problem.
Overall, Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s fantasy debut did not live up to my high expectations or its own immense potential. Nonetheless, The Fallen Blade is a well-written novel that features a fully realized setting, engaging characters, and a gripping story rife with complex politics and heartbreaking drama. In short, The Fallen Blade is still a very good book, and I definitely plan on being there for the second Act...
LIVIU’S ANALYSIS: I have read all 10 JC Grimwood novels before this one and none had disappointed me, while a few of them were superb - most notably his last loosely linked trilogy of sf novels set in today's world but with far future links, Stamping Butterflies, 9 Tail Fox and End of the World Blues which are as good as literary sf gets in the 21st century so far. So ultra-high expectations for this one and to my surprise I was somewhat disappointed in The Fallen Blade for unexpected reasons.
I thought this will be a blow me away A++ novel based on its premise - alt-history fantasy set in in the early 1400's Venice of an Earth with some magic and while the announced hot-topic vampires from the cover and the blurb gave me a little doubt, it turned out that The Fallen Blade stumbled where I have never dreamed it will happen: the novel's style is very fractured so it just does not flow and hits narrative walls constantly, while also having a contrived plot in key situations, where things seem to happen only because the author wanted it so his selected set of surviving characters could get away from hopeless situations which of course kill his "sacrifice" characters... No rhyme or reason beyond authorial fiat and that was the second major negative.
On the plus side, The Fallen Blade has a lot of goodies: extremely good atmosphere you can really visualize and even "feel" the Venice of 1400's; great vivid characters in Tycho, Atilo, Giulietta, Desdaio, Alexa and several others and some twists and turns that are excellent, while all the world building and differences from our world are almost pitch perfect inserted at crucial points.
I would give it a B for the many goodies which kept me chugging at it, though I had to pause often because of those narrative walls that just took me away from its world and while I am interested in the next book, it won't be the asap as this one was. I hope the author will raise the quality of the prose and plotting to the level of his early novels since the series has high potential with the implied depth of the world he created and the vivid characters that starred in this one.
Order “The Fallen Blade” HERE + HERE (UK)\
Read FBC Review of End of the World Blues
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Jon Courtenay Grimwood is a British science fiction author whose bibliography includes the Arabesk trilogy, 9tail Fox, and the End of the World Blues which won the British Science Fiction Award. He also won the British Science Fiction Award for Felaheen, and has been short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award—twice, the British Fantasy Award, and the John W. Campbell Award. The Fallen Blade is Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s fantasy debut.
PLOT SUMMARY: It is the year 1407. Venice is at the height of its power. In theory, Marco IV commands, but the Duke is a simpleton so his aunt and uncle—Duchess Alexa and Prince Alonzo—rule in his stead. Within the Serene Republic, their word is law, but for all their influence, Venice's fate still lies in other hands...
Lady Giulietta is the Duke's cousin. She enjoys greater privilege than many can even dream of, but her status will demand a terrible price.
Atilo Il Mauros is head of the Scuola degli Assassini, assassins who secretly enforce Venice's will—both at home and abroad.
Prince Leopold zum Bas Friedland is the bastard son of the German emperor and leader of the krieghund—the only force in Venice more feared than the Assassini.
And then there is Atilo's silver-haired apprentice. Only a boy, Tycho is already stronger and faster than any man has a right to be. He can also see in the dark and has no scent, but sunlight burns him and he fears water. Some believe he is a fallen angel. Others, a demon. Only by embracing his true nature, can Venice be saved...
CLASSIFICATION: Combining alternate history with the supernatural, The Fallen Blade is kind of like Jasper Kent’s Twelve/Thirteen Years Later with Anne Rice’s vampires and Underworld’s lycans, while written in the style of Glen Cook.
FORMAT/INFO: The Fallen Blade is 464 pages long divided over two Parts, sixty-three numbered chapters, and an Epilogue. Also includes a map, the Millioni family tree, Dramatis Personae, an interview with the author, and an excerpt from Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold. Narration is in the third person via Tycho, Atilo Il Mauros, Lady Giulietta dei San Felice di Millioni, Captain Roderigo, Iacopo, etc. The Fallen Blade is Act One of the Assassini Trilogy, but for the most part reads like a self-contained novel with the book coming to a satisfying stopping point.
January 27, 2011 and February 3, 2011 marks the US/UK Trade Paperback publication of The Fallen Blade via Orbit Books. Cover artwork provided by Larry Rostant.
ROBERT’S ANALYSIS: It’s been five years since Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s last novel was published, the British Science Fiction Award-winning End of the World Blues (Reviewed HERE). That book actually happens to be the only Jon Courtenay Grimwood novel I’ve ever read, but I absolutely loved it, and have every intention of going through the author’s backlist as soon as I can. That said, fantasy will always be my first love, so when I heard Jon Courtenay Grimwood was making his fantasy debut with The Fallen Blade, the book instantly became one of my most anticipated releases of 2011...
The first thing readers should understand about The Fallen Blade is that the book is an alternate history novel set in a 15th-century Venice ruled by Marco Polo’s descendants. I’m not the biggest fan of alternate history/historical fiction, but Jon Courtenay Grimwood does a tremendous job of creating a living, breathing Renaissance Venice that feels as convincing as the real thing, and is one of the novel’s greatest strengths. I particularly loved the amount of detail the author uses to establish the Millioni family and their complex political situation, which includes Duchess Alexa and Prince Alonzo vying for control of the throne, their trade routes coveted by the Mamluks, the Millioni declared as false princes by the Pope, and threats from the Germans, the Byzantines and Timur’s Mongols. Admittedly, it’s sometimes difficult to process all of the information that Jon Courtenay Grimwood throws at you, especially because of the manner in which he feeds readers info in tiny bits and pieces, but at the same time, it’s easy to become invested in the Renaissance Venice that the author has imagined.
Now if there is one thing negative to say about Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s Venice, it’s that the setting sometimes overshadows the rest of the book. This is most evident regarding The Fallen Blade’s fantasy elements—including a vampire, werewolves (krieghund) and a witch (stregoi)—which only accounts for a small percentage of the novel. What’s so disappointing about the book’s fantasy elements is that Jon Courtenay Grimwood hardly spends any time at all explaining their purpose or presence, making them feel more like an accessory than an integral part of the novel. I can understand the mysteriousness surrounding Tycho since most of the characters in the book don’t know what he is, including Tycho himself, but what about the krieghund or the witch A’rial? Fortunately, the fantasy stuff picks up during the novel’s climax, and I’m hopeful it’s a preview of things to come in the sequel.
Characters meanwhile, are memorable and intriguing, led by Lady Giuletta and the silver-haired boy Tycho, while Lady Desdaio is the book’s most surprising character because she’s a supporting player who heavily factors into many of the novel’s most important moments. To be honest, characterization in The Fallen Blade is not particularly deep, and the characters would not be nearly as interesting if not for an unpredictable plot that forces the book’s characters through a series of engaging, life-altering circumstances. Take Lady Giuletta for example, who runs away to avoid a political marriage, becomes part of an assassination plot against the king of Cyprus, is abducted, and then falls in love with an enemy. The rest of the characters have their own issues to deal with, and seeing what drama unfolds and how they handle their situations is definitely one of the novel’s highlights.
Writing-wise, The Fallen Blade is a tale of two sides. On the one hand, Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s world-building is convincing and immersive, and I was impressed by the author’s ability to manage the novel’s many different characters and subplots without losing control. On the other hand, Jon Courtenay Grimwood makes a number of questionable narrative decisions over the course of the novel. Like the uneven manner in which he shifts between viewpoints, with extended periods sometimes passing by before returning to a character—Atilo Il Mauros for instance. Or how viewpoints are provided for minor characters like Captain Roderigo and Iacopo as opposed to more important characters such as Lady Desdaio or Prince Leopold zum Bas Friedland. Or the author’s decision to skip over most of Tycho’s Assassini training and the months Lady Giulietta and Prince Leopold spent together, which I felt were very significant moments in the novel that deserved a more indepth account.
I should also point out that Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s writing style in The Fallen Blade is very reminiscent of Glen Cook’s writing style from his Instrumentalities of the Night series. Including sparse prose, moments of telling instead of showing, and a noticeable level of detachment that is present in the storytelling and characterization. Personally, this wasn’t an issue for me as I’m a huge fan of Glen Cook’s work, but for others, this could be a problem.
Overall, Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s fantasy debut did not live up to my high expectations or its own immense potential. Nonetheless, The Fallen Blade is a well-written novel that features a fully realized setting, engaging characters, and a gripping story rife with complex politics and heartbreaking drama. In short, The Fallen Blade is still a very good book, and I definitely plan on being there for the second Act...
LIVIU’S ANALYSIS: I have read all 10 JC Grimwood novels before this one and none had disappointed me, while a few of them were superb - most notably his last loosely linked trilogy of sf novels set in today's world but with far future links, Stamping Butterflies, 9 Tail Fox and End of the World Blues which are as good as literary sf gets in the 21st century so far. So ultra-high expectations for this one and to my surprise I was somewhat disappointed in The Fallen Blade for unexpected reasons.
I thought this will be a blow me away A++ novel based on its premise - alt-history fantasy set in in the early 1400's Venice of an Earth with some magic and while the announced hot-topic vampires from the cover and the blurb gave me a little doubt, it turned out that The Fallen Blade stumbled where I have never dreamed it will happen: the novel's style is very fractured so it just does not flow and hits narrative walls constantly, while also having a contrived plot in key situations, where things seem to happen only because the author wanted it so his selected set of surviving characters could get away from hopeless situations which of course kill his "sacrifice" characters... No rhyme or reason beyond authorial fiat and that was the second major negative.
On the plus side, The Fallen Blade has a lot of goodies: extremely good atmosphere you can really visualize and even "feel" the Venice of 1400's; great vivid characters in Tycho, Atilo, Giulietta, Desdaio, Alexa and several others and some twists and turns that are excellent, while all the world building and differences from our world are almost pitch perfect inserted at crucial points.
I would give it a B for the many goodies which kept me chugging at it, though I had to pause often because of those narrative walls that just took me away from its world and while I am interested in the next book, it won't be the asap as this one was. I hope the author will raise the quality of the prose and plotting to the level of his early novels since the series has high potential with the implied depth of the world he created and the vivid characters that starred in this one.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
"The Sentinel Mage" by Emily Gee (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)
Order "The Sentinel Mage" HERE
Official Emily Gee Website
Read FBC Review of TheLaurentine Spy
INTRODUCTION: In 2009 I raved about The Laurentine Spy by New Zelander author Emily Gee, a novel that still remains treasured in my memory almost two years later. So when I found about her new fantasy, a series debut no less after two standalones, I was very excited and had very high expectations, considering that I included the novel in a spotlight with two of my top five expected titles of 2011.
I liked the announced cover, while the blurb below was pretty generic and actually it turned out to be only partly accurate. However while the style of the novel was all I wanted and kept me reading, the content lacked depth badly and the book turned out to be a disappointment at least as my lofty expectations went, though further installments in the series may turn it around for me if they move the series beyond a "kill your enemies, get to the target" video game plot.
"Her magic may be the only thing that can save a prince—and the Seven Kingdoms. In a distant corner of the Seven Kingdoms, an ancient curse festers and grows, consuming everything in its path. Only one man can break it: Harkeld of Osgaard, a prince with mage’s blood in his veins. But Prince Harkeld has a bounty on his head—and assassins at his heels. Innis is a gifted shapeshifter. Now she must do the forbidden: become a man. She must stand at Prince Harkeld’s side as his armsman, protecting and deceiving him. But the deserts of Masse are more dangerous than the assassins hunting the prince. The curse has woken deadly creatures, and the magic Prince Harkeld loathes may be the only thing standing between him and death."
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The series that starts in The Sentinel Mage takes place in a fairly standard and non-specific pseudo-medieval setting with kingdoms, magicians and fantastic creatures. There are two continents, the Allied Kingdoms one, that accepts magic and nurtures it from young age - the Sentinels of the title are the most powerful such magicians and they uphold and enforce a strict code to avoid abuses etc, etc. Some sentinels are powerful shapeshifters, others can wreak havoc with fire, others can heal, some being able to do almost all...
Across the water in the Seven Kingdoms magicians - denigrated as witches - are killed on sight and the smallest taint of witch-blood ensures death if found. There is the bad powerful king, leader of the bad powerful kingdom Osgaard, which has swallowed its neighbors as time had passed; the current king Esger is as nasty as it goes, abusing his children, murdering his wives, you know the spiel from the "guide to write canned fantasy" that is consulted in so many genre offerings...
There is a twist though - some centuries ago a powerful magician did not go quietly to his death and enraged by his family's murder he put a curse on the Seven Kingdoms, curse that laid dormant since then, while of course it has just resurfaced as the book starts. In another cliche from the guide above, said magician is regarded as a one-off evil by his fellow over-the-water magicians who live safely in their land and they really want to do something, but are not quite sure what and how since the curse needs to be broken by a person who has both the blood of the bad royals in cause and magical blood and of course that person's hand and blood need to touch three remote and powerfully guarded artifacts...
And so it goes, with the blurb providing the rest you need to know with the additional detail that Prince Harkeld is accompanied by several Sentinel Mages who take turns at disguising themselves as his newly found, down on his luck non-mage bodyguard Justen, though the girl Innis - inexperienced but most powerful in memory etc, etc.. - is the one doing the heavy lifting as mentioned. And of course the prince does not even ask himself - at least in this volume - about the string of coincidences involved, but after all who needs a smart destined hero when a vain and mostly arrogant one would do...
There are two side plots, the most interesting involving the prince's beloved sister Britta and her "real" brave armsman Karel and enterprising maid Yasma, whose father plans to barter in marriage to a powerful duke - another disgusting, murderous boor etc, etc... This subplot had moments that reminded me why I loved the Laurentine Spy so much, but it is only a small part of the book, most being taken by the chase/kill enemies to get to first artifact above. And of course there are three artifacts and presumably three books etc, etc...
Despite all of the above, I enjoyed The Sentinel Mage more than the overview implies and I kept turning the pages - it's true that I kept hoping for something interesting, some twist, some depth - and that is the real "magic" of writing that the author has. The narrative flows well and you are compelled to turn the pages despite pretty much knowing what will be next and the banter between the main characters is entertaining quite a few times.
Outside of Harkeld and Innis, there is Petrus a young sentinel with a shine to Innis who takes the most turns as Justen when she is tired of keeping the changed shape or when she is needed in battle of for healing. So the triangle Harkeld, Innis, Petrus with one of the latter two playing Justen leads to many amusing moments and I felt a lot of sympathy for Petrus despite him being portrayed as stiff and uptight; especially considering that Harkeld remained an annoying whiner with occasional brutal tendencies to boot throughout...
The princess Britta is also very sympathetic and I hope that her story will take a more center stage in latter volumes. There are many avenues where things can go beyond the cliched one from this book and I hope the series takes some unexpected turns and acquires depth since the possibility is there for sure, while the author's writing style is just wonderful.
Overall The Sentinel Mage (B) is one of the few novels that I felt compelled to finish only because of the "magic of the writing", while the story was not only predictable but it was one that lacked much interest for me being the kind found in video-game novelizations or tie-ins and not what I expect from original work...
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