“The Emperor’s Knife” by Mazarkis Williams (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo & Robert Thompson)

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Order “The Emperor’s Knife” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)

Read Civilian Reader’s Interview with Mazarkis Williams HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Mazarkis Williams has roots in both Britain and America, having been educated—has earned degrees in history & physics—and working in both, and now divides time between Bristol and Boston. The Emperor’s Knife is his first novel.

PLOT SUMMARY: There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani Empire—a plague that attacks young and old, rich and poor alike. Geometric patterns spread across the skin, until you die in agony, or become a Carrier, doing the bidding of an evil intelligence, the Pattern Master. Anyone showing the tell-tale marks is put to death—that is Emperor Beyon's law . . . but now the pattern is running over the Emperor's own arms.

His body servants have been executed, he ignores his wives, but he is doomed, for soon the pattern will reach his face. While Beyon's agents scour the land for a cure, Sarmin, the Emperor's only surviving brother, awaits his bride, Mesema, a windreader from the northern plains. Unused to the Imperial Court's stifling protocols and deadly intrigues, Mesema has no one to turn to but an aging imperial assassin, the Emperor's Knife.

As long-planned conspiracies boil over into open violence, the invincible Pattern Master appears from the deep desert. Now only three people stand in his way: a lost prince, a world-weary killer, and a young woman from the steppes who saw a path in a pattern once, among the waving grasses—a path that just might save them all...

FORMAT/INFO: The Emperor’s Knife is 352 pages long divided over a Prologue and forty-two numbered chapters. Narration is in the third-person via four main characters: Prince Sarmin; the emperor’s Knife Eyul; the Lord High Vizier Tuvaini; and Mesema, a Felt bride for Prince Sarmin. The Emperor’s Knife is the first volume of the Tower and Knife Trilogy, but reads as a standalone novel with most of the major plot points wrapped up. The trilogy will continue in Knife-Sworn.

December 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of The Emperors Knife via Night Shade Books. The UK version was released on October 27, 2011 via Jo Fletcher Books.

MIHIR’S ANALYSIS: Mazarkis Williams’ The Emperor’s Knife is a debut book which has been under the radar for most fantasy readers. The book’s blurb details an empire which has been rotting and rests upon three individuals to stop the events, which might lead to its annihilation. Such a blurb wouldn’t necessarily give a clear picture of the actual book and it does seem to make the plot out to be very generic as well.

That’s the first mistake you make about the book assuming that the plot will be generic. While the book’s plot does feature court intrigue, a traditional story structure and individuals who have the power to change the course of events, there’s much more to The Emperor’s Knife including a plague that causes colorful geometric shapes to appear and make them mindless drones who act as a singular entity.

The story opens with a prologue set years in the past and details a crucial event which shapes Prince Sarmin’s life from that moment onwards. The book then shifts to the present time as he awaits his life within an environment that he does not fully understand, but is comforted by. From here, the plot begins rather suddenly as the reader is thrown into the world of the Cerani, the Felt people, etc. and the reader has to pick up on the clues and descriptions provided by the author and connect the dots to gain an understanding of the story and the problems which are occurring. The main mystery thread consists of the aforementioned plague and the Pattern Master.

At the core of this story are the three main POVs of Prince Sarmin, Mesema and Eyul. Mesema is a Felt girl who has been chosen by her father to be a bride to Prince Sarmin of the Cerani empire. Mesema is not thrilled by this decision, but cannot disobey her father. Eyul meanwhile, is an assassin who’s the only person appointed by the emperor in the line of the Knife-Sworn to wield the royal Knife with which royal blood can be spilled and the wielder is not damned. There’s also Tuvaini, the court vizier who wants to do right by the empire and shares an important part of the story, although whose side he’s on is never made

abundantly clear. There are a few other supporting characters who take part in the plot, but they do not get their own POVs and it would be better for the reader to find out about them via the book.

As a whole, characterization is a major plus as each voice is distinct from the other, with each chapter opening up a new facet for each character. Prose, though good, is a bit spartan in its approach; while the author provides the bare requirement when it comes to world-building, which can hamper the reading experience at times. Another point which undermines the novel is the pacing of the story. On the plus side, the overall mystery is wrapped up satisfactorily with most of the plot threads reasonably concluded except for a couple. Which of course lead to the second book in the trilogy, Knife-Sworn.

Overall, I enjoyed The Emperor’s Knife for telling a story of people broken by the psychological nature of past events and their striving to do the right thing. Even though Mazarkis Williams’ debut did not possess the gritty violent aspect of the Prince of Thorns or the fast-paced nature of The Whitefire Crossing, The Emperor’s Knife is a very good book, especially for those who like to be surprised by plot twists and enjoy clean economical prose. In short, I am looking forward to the second book in the Tower and Knife Trilogy as I am very curious to see where Mazarkis Williams takes the characters and plot next...

ROBERT’S ANALYSIS: The Emperor’s Knife by Mazarkis Williams first came to my attention thanks to an interview I did with Night Shade author Teresa Frohock. Because of Teresa’s glowing comments about the book and Night Shade’s recent track record with debut authors, expectations were high for The Emperor’s Knife, and for the most part, Mazarkis Williams’ debut lived up to those expectations.

What impressed me the most about The Emperor’s Knife were the characters, specifically the main POVs of Prince Sarmin, the assassin Eyul, the Lord High Vizier Tuvaini, and the Felt bride Mesema. At a glance, these characters may seem stereotypical—Sarmin possesses a unique magical ability, Eyul is torn between his duty to the emperor and guilt for those he has killed, Tuvaini has aspirations for the Petal Throne, and Mesema is a stranger in a strange land—but traits like Sarmin’s imprisonment/insanity and Tuvaini’s ambiguity as well as unexpected character development over the course of the novel helped offset the familiar elements, while making it easier to feel sympathy for the various protagonists. This is important since The Emperor’s Knife is a character-driven fantasy in the vein of Daniel Abraham’s The Long Price Quartet.

Speaking of The Long Price Quartet, there are a number of other similarities between The Emperor’s Knife and Daniel Abraham’s debut series, including sparse yet elegant prose, methodical pacing, minimal world-building, and a lean page count, at least for a fantasy novel. Plotting meanwhile, is a lot like the characters in The Emperor’s Knife where familiar elements such as court intrigue are offset by creative ideas like a magic system that revolves around patterns. The end result is a story that may seem familiar, especially to veteran readers of the fantasy genre, but is compelling nonetheless.

The one problem I had with the story is that events happen a little too quickly. In the space of 350 pages, thrones are usurped, the identity of the Pattern Master and his grand plan are revealed, a major confrontation between the protagonists and the Pattern Master occurs, and several characters meet their maker including two of the main POVs. Normally I find it refreshing when a fantasy novel can provide answers and a payoff as quickly as The Emperor’s Knife does, but in this case I felt Mazarkis Williams could have spent a little more time fleshing out certain aspects that would have made the novel even more rewarding. These include relationships that develop between characters (Mesema & Banreh, Mesema & Beyon, Eyul & Amalya, Sarmin & Grada, etc.), the Pattern magic, Mesema’s windreading ability, Eyul’s Knife, the emperor’s law regarding Carriers, a proper sendoff for the main characters who fail to survive, the gods introduced in the book (Herzu, Keleb, Mirra, Mogyrk), and the world itself which at times felt more like a traditional fantasy setting than a Persian/Arabian-influenced backdrop.

Even though the novel could have benefited from improvements in the areas mentioned above, The Emperor’s Knife as a whole is a very impressive debut by Mazarkis Williams, who immediately ranks among the year’s most exciting new fantasy authors. In the end, like Mihir, I greatly enjoyed The Emperor’s Knife and look forward to reading the rest of the Tower and Knife Trilogy...

Thoughts on "El Prisionero del Cielo" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and "The Lover's Dictionary" by David Levithan (by Liviu Suciu)

Some weeks ago the third installment of the awesome series that started with The Shadow of the Wind and continued with The Angel's Game has been published in Spain. As FBC is an English language site, I usually refrain from talking about books that are not available in English, but in this case as the UK publication of "El Prisionero del Cielo" has been tentatively set on June 2nd, 2012 and presumably the US publication will soon follow, I will note several things about the novel with a full review to follow next year as I sometimes do with (English language) advance review copies of great interest.

"El Prisionero del Cielo" is shorter than the previous offerings in the series and is also thematically different, forgoing the dual - past/present - love affairs of the first two books. However the novel keeps the past/present threads but this time they are more political than anything else and they are clearly divided with Daniel and Fermin - narrator and sidekick of The Shadow of the Wind - as the respective narrators.

Since the title character is David Martin (!) - the narrator of The Angel's Game - it should be clear that familiarity with both earlier installments is necessary and I found myself darting back and forth through The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game too.

Great prose, great characters and all that you expect from a CR Zafon novel, the one niggle I had is that "El Prisionero del Cielo" is the least self-contained of the novels so far both as backstory goes which I noted above and with an ending that while not quite a cliffhanger, definitely begs the fourth and presumably last "Cemetery of Forgotten Books" novel.

Still a clear Top 25 novel of 2011 for me and I am really looking forward to the English language version to see the subtleties I missed.

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As it somewhat unexpectedly for me, "The Lover's Dictionary" made the Goodreads Choice final ten fiction category and was my second choice there, I decided to talk a little about it here. Written in short non-linear chunks arranged as alphabetical definitions, the book is extremely compelling. The prose is lyrical and the book just took over my reading unexpectedly when I opened it and could not put it down.

The story itself is less of importance than the way it is told; the atmosphere - two relatively young professional Manhattanites meeting on a dating site, moving together, etc, etc reproduces the joys and frustrations of living there as I experienced them years ago also, so that was an added bonus.

I think the book could have worked in a different location so from that point of view the location is not crucial, but on the other hand Manhattan gives a specific flavor to the novel that is harder to reproduce in other places.

Highly recommended for a fast, lyrical read that will stay with you; the first entry in the novel gives a flavor of how it goes and I really found myself turning the pages after this until the end; there is joy and sorrow, mundanity and exceptional, and generally life happening.

"aberrant, adj. “I don’t normally do this kind of thing,” you said. “Neither do I,” I assured you. Later it turned out we had both met people online before, and we had both slept with people on first dates before, and we had both found ourselves falling too fast before. But we comforted ourselves with what we really meant to say, which was: “I don’t normally feel this good about what I’m doing.” Measure the hope of that moment, that feeling. Everything else will be measured against it"

Spectyr by Philippa Ballantine (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Philippa Ballantine Website

Order “Spectyr” HERE

Read the first chapter HERE

Read FBC’s review of Geist

Read FBC interview with Phillipa Ballantine

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Philippa Ballantine was born and brought up in New Zelaland. Shen then graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a BA in English and Political Science. She also holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Library Studies from The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. She is an avid Podcaster and has often released podcasts of her own books. Her podcasts have been short listed for the Parsec Awards, and won a Sir Julius Vogel award. She has had three books published before this one. She is married to Tee Morris, the co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series. They both currently reside in Virginia.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: Though one of the most powerful Deacons, Sorcha Faris has a tarnished reputation to overcome. She and her partner, Deacon Merrick Chambers, find themselves chasing down rumors of geists, but long for a return to real action. So they jump at the chance to escort a delegation sent to negotiate the terms of the Emperor’s engagement. Their destination: the exotic city of Orinthal.

But a string of murders has Orinthal on edge, and Sorcha and Merrick are asked to investigate. Meanwhile the Emperor’s sister has unwittingly released a cruel and vengeful goddess, one who it bent on destroying her enemies, including the geistlord who resides inside the shapeshifting rival to the throne—Sorcha’s lover….

FORMAT/INFO: Spectyr is 310 pages long divided over thirty numbered/titled chapters. Narration is in the third-person omniscient view via Sorcha Faris, Merrick Chambers, the Young Pretender Raed Rossin, Grand Duchess Zofiya, the Goddess Hatipai and the Rossin. Spectyr is the second book in the Chronicles of the Order and contains a lot of references to its predecessor hence its important to read it only after Geist.

June 28, 2011 marked the North American paperback and e-book publication of Geist via ACE books. Cover art is done by Jason Chan.

ANALYSIS: After thoroughly enjoying Geist , the first book in the Chronicles of the Order by Philippa Ballantine. I was eagerly looking forward to Spectyr and since I had bought both books together, it wasn’t a long wait at all. The book's blurb promised another exotic journey and further revelations in to the world of Arkaym and for me the expectations were heightened.

The story begins with Grand Duchess Zofiya, sister to the new Emperor Kaleva, who is a follower of one of the small Gods. Her object of worship is a entity known as Hatipai. Zofiya had a crucial role to play in the climax of Geist and now ascends to the status of POV character. She however feels a metaphysical pull and soon is introduced to the person whom all her prayers are directed to. Hatipai deems her mortal appearance necessary to save this world from the Rossin and all other Geistlords. She demands that the Rossin and his mortal shell must die and Zofiya is to be her instrument through which the evil will be vanquished. Sorcha Faris and Merrick Chambers return hardened and wiser from their previous sojourn, however Sorcha is surprised to find her husband recovering and willing to claim his spousal status. To add to this complicated point, Raed Rossin finds himself forced to do what he hasn’t done before and try to regain his family as someone is trying to gain revenge on the Rossin family. Lastly to add to it all, the Emperor is also seeking a bride and princess Chioma of Orinthal is the most eligible contender, so the stage shifts to the city of Orinthal and it will be here that the fate of worlds, past and present will be decided.

To begin with Spectyr is easily the better book than its predecessor. It again has a twisted storyline that serves surprise after surprise and in the end manages to end on a terrific note making sure that readers will be left anticipating Wrayth desperately. The pace is also another strength which adds to the story as it never loses its zip. Making sure that the reader is constantly surging ahead. A crucial part of the story also deals with a certain character who appeared in Geist and also makes this story a prequel and sequel at the same time. This part of the story was something which made tremendous sense and also gives a rather long look into the past of the world which deepens the dangers inherent within. The cover art again is by Jason Chan and is possibly better than his freshman effort, we get another close look at the lead pair and this time it’s the turn of another rune, possibly one which is close to Sorcha’s heart. Lastly the magic system as well as the world history is better explained and this only serves to raise the stakes for the next two books.

In the last book, I thought that the characterization wasn’t up to the its optimal standard, however the characterization in this book is degrees better and of course helps the reader gain a closer understanding of the characters and their motivations. Another funny point which I noticed was that the Rossin has made appearances in both books and has never properly shown his true potential in crucial situations exactly. In both books there have been instances wherein the Rossin passes the buck to Raed and I hope this trend doesn’t continue in the remaining two books as well. To better put it, its like watching the Hulk make an appearance and just when you hope that he does what he does best, all you get is Bruce Banner, this confusion might seem feasible a couple of times but should it occur any more, it could be considered as a narrative weakness. This book was an excellent page turner and it was very hard for me to point deficiencies in this one.

CONCLUSION: Spectyr further raises the standards first encountered in Geist. It’s a page turner and a book which will make the wait for the next one a bit harder. Philippa Ballantine’s Chronicles of the Order is a series which is action packed, cleverly plotted and an entertaining one as well. Give it a try if you are a fan of thrilling action and an enticing plot.

Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep w/Bonus Review of Halloween Frost (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Author Website

Read FBC's review of Touch of Frost

Read FBC'S review of First Frost and Q/A with the author about the series

Read the first two chapters HERE

Order the Book HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Jennifer Estep has a Bachelor’s degree in English & Journalism, and a Master's in Professional Communications. Her bibliography includes the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, the Mythos Academy YA urban fantasy series, and the Bigtime paranormal romance series. She is also a member of Romance Writers of America, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and other writing groups.

PLOT SYNOPSIS: At Mythos Academy, teen warriors in the making train to take up their roles protecting humankind. With her snarky, self-deprecating voice and strange gift of psychometry - the ability to know an object's history just by touching it - Gwen Frost is an outsider both to the students of the Academy and the rest of the world. But now that she's taking private tutoring with the Academy's most notorious young Spartan, and has Nike's own sword to protect her, she's ready to make mark....

Gwen also has to deal with the fallout of what happened in Touch of Frost and the various changes it has brought into her life. To add to the overall pressure Gwen realizes that a Reaper of Chaos is trying to kill her, and that if she doesn’t figure out who it is, the Reaper just might succeed...

FORMAT/INFO: The e-ARC of Kiss of Frost is 296 pages long divided over twenty-eight chapters. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively via the protagonist Gwen Frost. Kiss of Frost is the second volume in the Mythos Academy series and can be read separately as the author provides enough of the backstory through out the story. The book also contains Gwen’s schedule of the Winter carnival as well as a Who’s Who reference guide of the people, places and mythology of the series which can be useful as a quick reference.

Kiss of Frost will be released in paperback and e-book format on November 29, 2011 via Kensington Books.

ANALYSIS: I thought the first book Touch of Frost was a decent start to a YA series about a gypsy girl who has the gift of pyschometry. Gwendolyn Frost is the protagonist and narrator of the series so far and has faced a very traumatic event in her life which changed all her perceptions and forced her to go to Mythos Academy, a place which is out of her imagination. In the review below there might be minor spoilers for the first book so proceed ahead if you have read the first book or if you don’t mind minor spoilers.

The second book Kiss of Frost opens up a few weeks after the events of the first book, Gwen has now been thoroughly exposed to the problems which are caused by Loki and his Reapers. She learns after the events of the climax in the previous book, of her role as a champion to her Goddess and what is required of her. Thus set with a task of sorts she will have to undergo training and learn more about the martial arts to better deal with Reapers who are trying to kill her. She of course is flummoxed when the person chosen to train her is Logan Quinn, the apple of her eye. Another fact which isn’t helping is the fact that her friends Daphne and Carson are going steady and have no reluctance in displaying their affections. Lastly to stir up the pot, at the upcoming Winter Carnival she discovers that there’s a new Reaper of chaos who is trying to kill her. So it will be up to her to sharpen her detective skills if she has any wish to survive.

The second book opens the world of Mythos academy and gives us a sort of panoramic view into the events of the world. The background of the world is explained a bit and especially what is currently happening and why the Reapers are in so much of a tizzy. There are also further revelations on Gwen’s role as a champion. Particular details are revealed about the events of First Frost which I’m sure will be of severe importance in the future books of the series. Characterization is a particular strength of Jennifer Estep's books and it is no different in the Mythos Academy series. However in this book this positive becomes a negative of sorts as Gwen’s character comes across as a bit annoying due to her constant fretting over whether Logan will return her affection. But this particular thread also powers the story as this attraction is a main part of the story and fans will get a particular wish fulfilled. The author has also carefully introduced a third angle to this plot and thereby increasing the tension. The character cast is also increased and the other characters such as Daphne, Logan & professor Metis are given more face time. I believe this is a good thing as they will play prominent roles in the future volumes.

The biggest fallacy I noticed of this book and the series so far, is its utter predictability. From the start of the book to its emotional climax, events occur and with clockwork precision most readers will be able to guess what happens next. This robbed much of my reading pleasure and I realize that this book is aimed at YA readers but sometimes I think the author can definitely up the ante by introducing a few more plot twists. There’s also the constant repeating of facts about many of the characters, which though from the mind of a sixteen year old girl might be explanatory but can be curbed as it occurs all too frequently. This curious habit is also seen in the author’s other books which I have read however it is a bit limited in those books and therefore wasn't much of an issue.

CONCLUSION: Kiss of Frost delivers in its promise of exciting romance tinged with action and continues to give the readers a fun tale. Jennifer Estep nicely shows her skills whilst entertaining and drawing the reader in the world of the Mythos Academy. If a few of the aforementioned fallacies can be eliminated then surely this series will be a better one. Recommended for readers who want a light-hearted read and for Paranormal Romance readers.

Read An Excerpt HERE

Order the Book HERE

OVERVIEW: Halloween Frost is a short story which was featured in the Entangled anthology which is a special story collection wherein all the proceeds go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. More information about the collection including the contents of the collection as well as the official press release can be found over here.

Halloween Frost is a short story which is set after the events of Touch of Frost, the first book of the series. It is roughly 15 pages long in the e-book form. The book details a small event which occurs around Halloween. Gwen and Daphne are on their way from a Halloween party and suddenly attacked by a mythical creature. Faced with near impossible odds and possibly no warrior backup, it will be up to Gwen to use her wits to save their lives.

This short story again follows the pattern of the earlier Frost short story giving the readers a small view in to the world of Gwendolyn Frost and showcasing a brief but important event. In this case it shows how she has been coping with her recent introduction to the new world and especially after the events of Touch of Frost, where she stands in Logan Quinn’s eyes. The story gives an important indicator for the events of Kiss of Frost and like the previous story, it's not mandatory reading for understanding the overall story however for readers who have enjoyed the series. Its something which serves as an excellent extra to the overall story and more importantly this story is a part of an initiative for an extremely important cause.

Rest In Peace, Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011)

It’s been years since I last read an Anne McCaffrey novel, but her Pern stories have always held a special place in my heart. So it was quite sad to hear of the author’s passing yesterday, especially considering what she meant to science fiction and fantasy. Anne McCaffrey was a pioneer of the genres. Not only was she the first woman to ever win a Hugo or Nebula Award, but her book, The White Dragon, became the first science fiction novel to reach the New York Times' Hardcover Bestseller List. In 2005, McCaffrey was awarded the 22^nd Grand Master Award by the Science Fiction Writers of America and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2006. In short, Anne McCaffrey will be sorely missed, though never forgotten...