Review: Dangerous Women editied by by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

Some Desperado by Joe Abercrombie: Shy made off with her gang's rather underwhelming amount of loot after a heist. However after her horse collapses outside a ghost town she has has to use all of her resourcefulness to try and survive her pursuers. Has it's moments and has more of a western feel to it than Red Country but doesn't offer anything more than a light entertaining read. 7/10.

My Heart Is Either Broken by Megan Abbott: A couple deal with the fallout of their daughter being abducted. The father begins to wonder if his wife may have more to do with their daughter's disappearance  than she is letting one. The story is told from the husband's perspective and I loved the way the very character of the wife shifted and changed through his eyes. Very well delivered twist as well. 8.5/10.

Nora's Song by Cecelia Holland: Tells the story of Nora, one of the young daughters of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine as she is caught up in her parents squabble. Nora's view point is well portrayed but the story itself doesn't seem to go very far and feels almost incomplete.  6.5/10.

The Hands Are Not There by Melinda Snodgrass: Science fiction story about a young man, who is down on his luck, being told a very strange story by an alien in a bar. Exceptional world building in a limited space with some well portrayed characters. 8.5/10.

Bombshells by Jim Butcher:  Molly is approached by Justine for help in a delicate matter. Thomas has been caught spying on the svartalves, who are in the middle of negotiations with the deadly Fomor. I've mostly enjoyed Butcher's forays into stories from the perspectives of other characters in the Dresden files and this one is no exception. Fast paced and action packed with nice little twist on the theme. 8.5/10.

Raisa Stepanova by Carrie Vaughn: Follows a female Russian fighter pilot during World War 2 who fears that her brother's disappearance from an infantry unit will doom her family. A steady piece but lacked any real spark. 6/10.

 Wrestling Jesus by Joe R. Lansdale: A young man is taken in by a geriatric wrestler who fights another geriatric wrestler every few years for a beautiful woman's favor. Packed with memorable and rather quirky characters and a lot of heart. 8.5/10.

Neighbors by Megan Lindholm: An elder woman is being pushed to selling her house and move into a retirement home by her busy children, while at the same time the disappearance of an eccentric neighbor may open the door to a world where the woman may still be useful. Emotionally powerful story with a wonderfully realized protagonist. Arguably the strongest story of the anthology 9/10.

I Know How To Pick 'Em by Lawrence Block: A man in a bar is approached by a desperate housewife, seemingly looking for a casual fling. Both parties may have darker intentions.  A chilling view point and another original twist on the theme. 8/10.

Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell by Brandon Sanderson: Silence is the owner of an inn in a forest where dark spirits roam, easily enraged by the sight of blood or by a person running. In order to keep her family together she secretly kills outlaws with bounties on their head but her contact may want a bigger chunk of the prize. Exceptional world-building, a complex and engaging lead and a plot that moves right along. 8.5/10.

A Queen in Exile by Sharon Kay Penman: Constance is caught between the ambition of her husband Heinrich prince of Germany and her brothers bastard as they fight for Sicily. Has it's moments but overall felt a touch bland in characterization and plot. 6.25/10.

The Girl in the Mirror by  Lev Grossman: An overachieving girl in a magical school looks to prank a boy for a perceived wrong but gets more than she bargained for. I found the protagonist well drawn and loved the quirkiness of the story but it did lack a degree of depth. 7/10.

Second Arabesque, Very Slowly by Nancy Kress. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where the majority of women are no longer fertile and bands of survivors compete for survival by hunting and gathering. Nurse realizes the future of her own tribe is in jeopardy when some of them take an interest in something beautiful lost from the old world. Superb world-building and a very well realized protagonist. 8.75/10.

City Lazarus by Diana Gabaldon: Set in a New Orleans where the Mississippi river has now run dry. A crooked cop becomes infatuated with a beguiling stripper and begins to question his values. Strong cast of characters but I saw the twist coming a mile away. This probably wouldn't have been as obvious if it wasn't in an anthology about dangerous women. Still a very well written piece 8.25/10.

Virgins by Diana Gabaldon:  Two Scottish warriors find themselves escorting a wealthy Jewish man's daughter to the man she is to be wed to. Decent cast of characters but felt too much like it had been plucked from a larger piece. 7/10.

Hell Hath No Fury by Sherrilyn Kenyon: A spiritually sensitive young woman and her friends visit a ghost town cursed by a spurned woman. Clever take on the theme and moves right along. 7/10.

Pronouncing Doom by S.M. Stirling:  Set in a post-apocalyptic world where the the local people have turned to a form of Neo-Druidism. Juniper, the local head woman, has to preside over the trial of an accused rapist. Another piece with strong world-building and protagonist. 8/10.

Name the Beast by Sam Sykes:  A schict woman is forced teach her estranged daughter how to be one of them while hunting a family of humans. Lacked any real spark. 6/10.

Caretakers by Pat Cadigan: A middle aged woman and her younger sister begin to suspect all might not be well at their mother's retirement home. Well-drawn characters and I really enjoyed the sometimes dysfunctional relationship of the sisters. 8.25/10.

Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector: Set in the Wild card universe. The amazing bubbles and Voodoo Mama find themselves the target of a mysterious foe with the ability to steal their powers and is intent on discrediting them. Stands really well on it's own as I had no trouble following and I've never read anything in the Wild Card universe before. Well realized cast of characters and surprisingly packs a strong emotional punch. 8.5/10.

The Princess and the Queen by George R.R. Martin: Outlines the events of a fight for the iron throne by two branches of House Targaryen. And when I say 'outlines, that's exactly what I mean. Major issues of 'telling' rather than 'showing'. While the events are interesting enough I really think this was a phoned in effort from Martin. 6.25/10.

Overall a very strong collection of stories which utilized the theme very well. Over half of them are real gems.  8.25/10 

Review: Heirs of the Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Plagued by guilt over the death of her father and her half sister's lover,Tynisa travels to the Commonweal; home of Salma the man she once loved and lost. There she hopes to find his family and tell them about how he lived and died and then most likely seek her own death. However she is struck by the physical similarity of Salma's younger brother to her lost love and believes she may have found a reason to live again. However Salma's family have plans of their own for Tynisa. Meanwhile Che with the aid of Thalric is heading for the Commonweal as well hoping to save Tynisa from the ghost of Tisamon, who isn't quite done with his daughter. Seda the empress of the wasps is looking to expand her new found magical powers and ultimately plunge the world into war once more.

The world-building is exceptional once again. I especially liked how Tchaikosky showed the Commonweal warts and all and there were definitely major social problems there well before the wasp invasion. One theme which was carried along through both wasp and Dragonfly characters was the effects of war and it's associated losses as well as what losing one's purpose can mean. This really leads to some major character growth for some very interesting side characters.

I did enjoy the focus that was given to Che and Tynisa and this kept the plot centered and balanced throoughout.

Overall Tchaikosky continues to deliver in his very impressive series. 8.25/10.

Review: City of Tigers by Leif Chappelle

Having been abandoned by his father at a young age Sigurd is raised by his mother in the small town of Havlandsby. He is a projektor, capable of communing with the elements and gaining extroidanry powers, in his case focused on music.   When she passes away the still young Sigurd decides to join the growing exodus to the great city of  Tigrebyn. After initially living as a street urchin, he later falls in with Ragna a projektor herself who has taken it upon herself to keep the remaining projecktor's safe. He then in turn decides to leave her and lives with siblings Hemming and Kai who have recently been abaondoned their own mother. Years pass and Sigurd, whose powers have now grown, makes a living by performing one man orchestra on street corners. Prokektor's role in society has rapidly been replaced by machina and the University at the forefront of their creation seek out Sigurd to create even more powerful machina, by any means necessary. Meanwhile an unexplained fire occurs killing several people but is the culprit a faulty machina or a rouge projecktor?

The crux of the book is the age old clash of magic and technology. While some parts of Chappelle's take on this are well explored, the origin of the projektor's  powers in this case, others are not, such as machina in general. This unevenness permeates throughout most facets of the novel. No attempt is made to explain why projektors  are suddenly outcasts all of a sudden despite playing a pivotal role in society until quite recently. This was the main point of conflict in the story so needed to be explored. 

The writing for the most part is tidy but there are times when it does come across as stilted, particularity in areas of dialogue. The difference between Sigurd's younger and older point of views were well distinguished.

Most chapter titles contain a reference to some coming event, such as "three days before the fire." This created a strong sense of foreboding and was a clever tool.   

Overall despite having a great deal of potential this novel is badly let down by an unevenness in writing, plot control and world-building. 6/10.  

Review: The White-Luck Warrior by R. Scott Bakker

Having barely survived Cil-Aujas The exiled wizard Achamian, the daughter of the woman he loved Mimara and their ragtag group of mercenaries the Skin-eaters continue on their expedition to the coffers. The non-man Cleric begins feeding the group a strange drug to regain their strength but there is bound to be consequences. Meanwhile The great ordeal under Kellhus is forced to split into parts when food runs low. Soon they are faced with a new threat a massive hording of Scranc which dogs their steps. Sorweel meanwhile awaits for the mother to use him aginst Kelhus but is troubled when he realizes the aspect emperor's war is real. Esmenet's and Maithanet's trust in one another continues to fracture as the empire crumbles around them, not realizing that one of Esmenet's son's is pulling the strings.

Like the previous volume the story is divided into three main arcs. Also like the Judging Eye slow pacing is a real issue. The Achamian arch was the sole exception last time but now falls into the same trap. I must admit I was disappointed how little each plot has advanced by the end of the book but at least they all end on interesting cliffhangers.

On the positive side the characters remain well fleshed out and deliciously conflicted. We also see a return to the large scale battles of the previous trilogy which Bakker absolutely excels at.

Overall most of Bakker's strengths are on display again but slow pacing is still a real issue. 7/10. 

Review: The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan

Ringil Eskiath was a hero in a bitter war against a sentient species of reptiles years ago. Now he rots in a backwater town, eking out a meager living on the back of his reputation. That is until his mother shows up and contracts Ringil to track down a cousin who has been sold into slavery. However more may be going on in the recently legalized slave trade then meets the eye. The lady kir-Archeth is a kiriath half breed left behind by her father's people when they attempted to return home and now adviser to the monarch of the Yhelteth empire. Tasked with investigating  a brutal massacre she fears the ancient enemy of her people, the Dwenda are returning. Egar is a clan chief among a people of nomads who can't quite settle back into his old life after seeing part of the larger world and fighting in terrible wars. However he may have made the wrong enemy when he crosses the clan's shaman and he finds himself a piece in a far larger game.

The world-building is a touch uneven to say the least. There are some very intriguing glimpses into cultures and history but it seems too rushed and doesn't quite fit together. I can't understand how peoples who have so recently been in contact  with each other in a major war can have have such disparate knowledge on the Dwenda. Archeth's lack in this regard is deeply troubling.

This ties into a major pacing issue; the story is simply too rushed, especially from Ringil's encounter with the Dwenda onwards.

The three main characters are interesting but everything is too rushed to see them really develop. I would have especially liked the see the relationship between the three protagonist's explored further.

I'm also not a fan of an author simply inserting graphic sex scenes  simply for the sake of shocking the reader without advancing the plot or character development. Morgan is certainly guilty of this.

Overall Morgan's novel is a promising one but is too rushed to develop into would it could have been. 6.75/10.       

Review: At Faith's End by Chris Galford

With the Idasian emperor having fallen a power vacuum has emerged which many contenders would seek to full.Leopold a priest and brother to the late emperor, strongly supported by his wife, who has been out of the empire for decades sets to work taking the throne. His main opponent is a nobleman Walthere Cullick who has the empress under his thumb and hopes to marry his daughter Charlotte to the former emperor's young son. Meanwhile the emperor's bastard son Tessel has taken control of the imperial army in the field. He lacks the support of the nobles and when an attempt on his life fails he decides to lead the army home intent on conquest. Rurik Matair is uncertain of his own place, he is caught between his loyalty to Tessel and his own brother. His friends in the company of the eagle have turned their backs on them unsure if he is responsible for raping Essa when she was drugged. All the while the man responsible the deranged baker Voren would like nothing better than to see the end of Rurik.

Like the first book the biggest strength of this one is the diversity and complexity of it's well realized cast of characters. Having said that I was disappointed that some of the events that happen do not seem to leave an emotional impact on the characters. For example a group of merecenaries attempt to rape Essa but this does not seem to have any impact on her going foward.

Pacing is initially very slow with little happening in the first third of the book. Having said that once it does pick up I was hooked and thought the ending in particular was well realized.

Another minor issue is that two conversations that Rurik has with Alviss and Essa later in the book seem to be completly recycled from earlier. This should have been picked up in editing.

Overall this is a good solid book but several issues make it somewhat less than it's predecessor. 7/10.

Review:Happy Hour in Hell by Tad Williams

Bobby Dollar is on something of an enforced probation as some of the higher powers in Heaven look at his role in the events of the emergence of a "third way."  Things quickly get worse as an undead creature named Smyler begins attacking Bobby. Smyler is after the location of an archangels feather that Bobby has which could cause trouble for Eligor a grand duke of hell by proving he has been making deals with someone in heaven behind his colleagues' backs. That coupled with the fact that someone pretty powerful needs to have been involved to bring Smyler back from the dead is enough for Bobby to decide to take the fight to Eligor. He embarks on a seemingly doomed venture into hell itself to rescue his demon girlfriend Casimira from Eligor's backyard.

Bobby's journey through hell is an emotional tour de force. While the first volume touched on the themes of redemption and characters of shades of grey this one takes it to the next level as Bobby encounters not only evil in hell but some good as well. It definitely doesn't shy away from some tough questions and the characterization definitely takes a step up from the previous volume. 

My only critique would be the ending is a touch predictable and does seem a bit underwhelming compared to the rest of the story.

Overall  Williams improves on his previous urban fantasy effort with a tough emotional punch. 8.25/10.