Review: The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

With the surface of the world teeming with deadly monsters humanity has sheltered high above in massive spires. Trade and communication are effected through airships, powered by energized crystals, though so is espionage and warfare. Captain Grimm commands airship Predator. Years before he was drummed out of the Albion navy as a scapegoat for political reasons and now acts as a private merchant in a cold war of sorts with a rival spire. After the predator sustains massive damage in an action against a much more powerful airship, Predator is forced to return for repairs that Grimm simply can't afford.

Bridget, daughter of a noble house that has fallen on hard times, is sent to the Albion guard to complete her mandatory service, accompanied by her cat and friend Rowl himself a prince of a feline house. There her inexperience in dealing with other nobility quickly leads her into a dual but receives the aid of Gwen and Benedict members of a very important house. During the duel Spire Albion is attacked by warships of Aurora. Bridget and her friends and Captain Grimm and his crew both distinguish themselves in the attack and bring them to the attention of the monarch who sends them on a mission to aid the Etherealist (read magician with a price) Ferus and his apprentice Folly. The attack was a distraction for something more sinister.

Unlike Butcher's most famous work the Dresden Files this novel is told from a third person perspective and Butcher does an excellent job in creating a number of distinct and interesting points of view (though I found Bridget's first chapter made her feel much younger than she actually was but that is a minor gripe). This includes a cat, with a very different view on the world, and a character whose magic has made her suffer a social disorder (more on that later). Butcher includes point of view chapters from Auroran characters which explains their (reasonable) motivations and fleshes them out nicely. I'm glad he did this as it prevented them from being one dimensional or portrayed simply as 'bad guys',

The world-building is excellent, with lots of showing how things work from the way characters perceive the world around them rather than long paragraphs of unnecessary intrusive information.
Magic comes with a price with each character who utilizes it effected by a social disorder. Technology is steampunk-like but powered by vat-grown crystals and society is Victorian era-like.

Overall Butcher delivers a refreshingly character-driven novel. 8.5/10.

Review: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson

The City of Elendel is threatening to boil over. Industrial advances are keeping some of the city's workers unemployed while forcing others to work ridiculous hours. Wax and Wayne are called to investigate the strange murder of the governor's brother's among a massacre of the city's criminal elite. Wax is convinced that someone or something is intent on destroying the city and when Wax catches sight of an old enemy, who he knows is dead'  he realizes things maybe personal.

Biggest plus for me in this book is the world-building. Taking a look at a world hundreds of years after some very important events gives an excellent opportunity to look at the impact of these actions and this is certainly evident from the religious and social aspects of the society represented. Another area Sanderson excels in is demonstrating the impact of technological advances on this society.

Character development is both superb and seamless with all of the major characters getting fleshed out. The plot moves along at a decent clip with the odd surprise thrown in.

An ongoing issue with Sanderson is his efforts to incorporate humour into his books. In this series it is often through the character of Wayne and unfortunately Sanderson has no idea how to incorporate this subtly. I found Wayne antics distracting at the beginning but gradually it starts to fit a bit better into the story.

Overall delivers most of Sanderson's usual strengths (and the odd flaw). 8.25/10.

Review: Shadowmarch by Tad Williams

The Kingdoms in the Northern Continent are becoming nervous as the Autarch, the god-emperor of Xi's, has consolidated his hold on the Southern continent and is seeking new conquests. King Olin of Shadowmarch sought to unite the Northern Kingdoms in alliance of protection against this threat but was captured by the bandit ruler of Hierosol who demands a considerable ransom for his release. Olin's heir Prince Kendrick attempts to hold Shadowmarch together but tragedy thrusts his two younger siblings to prominence. Briony is tired of being judged on her gender is determined to show her worth while her twin brother Barrick is plagued by nightmares that make him question his sanity. Meanwhile the Twilight people, fairy folk driven off by humans centuries ago, have plans to take back what was taken from them.

 Like many of Williams books the pacing of the novel, especially in the beginning, is exceedingly slow. However it is well worth persisting with. Williams is able to create a brooding atmosphere throughout which kept me turning the pages. World-building is solid and while the characters might seem to adhere to genre stereotypes at first glance they are very well developed.

Overall pacing issues aside Williams delivers a very strong, character-driven novel. 8/10.

Advent Ghosts 2015: Elf

“Elf!”

            Santa called the entire multitude of workers crammed into the workshop ‘elf’ but Elf knew he was being addressed. He hunched his misshapen shoulders as Santa loomed over him examining the Furby he’d been stuffing. After an eternity Santa grunted and thundered on. Elf sighed and rubbed his elongated ears. They’d been normal once but Santa “Claws” had a grip like an enraged crab. Elf dismissed the thought before it drew Santa’s ire. Santa always knew.

“I won’t be naughty again!” A boy screeched as the reindeer herded him inside.

Elf tutted, had he truly resembled this strange creature?

Review: Codex Born by Jim C. Hines

Isaac Vianio's life is back on track,he is adjusting to his relationship with dryad Lena Greenwood, accepting the fact she has another relationship with Nidhi Shah and has taken on a mentor role to a young libriomancer who has a unique new ability. When Isaac and Lena are called to investigate the murder of a Wendigo they quickly stumble onto something more. A group Gutenberg thought he destroyed years ago is resurfacing and they have plans for Lena.

The magic system was very well thought out and constructed and I was happy to see Hines addressing new areas, such as e-books, and how they are incorporated into it. Lena was the most intriguing character from the first book and each chapter begins with a short extract on her own thoughts on her life. This cleverly shadowed a concept introduced in the book; whether you could incorporate enough key events into a book to recreate a person.

The mix of humour and addressing serious issues is again well balanced and I feel like Hines is definitely maturing as a writer.

Overall another clever, character-driven offering from Hines. 8.5/10.

Review: Stands a Shadow by Col Buchanan

For decades the city fortress of Bar-Khos has held the armies of the empire of Mann at bay. Now the Holy Matriach plans to lead a pincer force herself to finally crush the resistance. However there are dangers she does not expect. Ash, the aging and ailing Roshun assassin, seeks vengeance for his slain apprentice Nico. With nothing left to lose Ash is a very dangerous man. Meanwhile Che, a trained killer of the state, is assigned a secret mission; kill the Matriach if it looks like she will flee from battle, However disgusted at his own part in the destruction of the Roshun order Che is far from stable.

I really enjoyed the character-driven nature of the previous volume, especially the contrast between Ash's world-weariness and Nico's naivety. To an extant that contrast is still there but not to the same degree and the story has definitely moved to focus more on the larger events taking place. This is demonstrated by the more political focus in the early part of this volume. While this does keep things interesting I did feel sometimes the plot meandered unnecessarily.

My one criticism from the previous volume was that the supporting cast were underdeveloped and I'm glad to see that the author has made some very strong steps in rectifying this.

Overall a solid read which expands on the first volume but lacks a bit of it's character-driven focus. 8/10.

Review: Mama Sauveterre's Curiosity Shoppe by John Yeo Jr.

Tassina D'Emerald was part of a group called the laughing dancers, a supernatural group blessed with an unnaturally long life span. However after several centuries age was finally catching up with her and her famed beauty was fading. Tassina decided to make a deal with a demon and at the cost of all of her fortune and her status as a laughing dancer she swapped bodies with a younger dancer. However Tassina's triumph was short lived when she discovered the younger body was cursed with an illusion that made it's flesh terrible to look upon. Tassina believes that the younger dancer inflicted the curse herself as a form of revenge. The younger dancer, now trapped in Tassina's older body, went on with her life taking the name of Mama Sauveterre and adopting a odd assortment of individuals into a family and running a Curiosity shop that is more than it seems. Decades pass and Tassina hatches a plan to try and get Mamma to reverse the curse by trapping Mama's adopted daughter in a black magic bargain and using her as leverage. However there are unforeseen consequences that have both heaven and hell hot on Tassina's trail.

I loved the concept and think there was a very good story to be told here but the writing lets it down big time. The prose comes across as very clumsy and the author struggles with the issue of telling rather than showing readers what is happening. This is compounded by the decision to have multiple point of views shifts within paragraphs which is almost always a mistake, not to mention a pet hate of mine. There are also a number of rather obvious spelling errors which are distracting and I wish the author had given the text another edit.

Having said that I do feel that the author was able to create an interesting cast of characters and presents their own points of view very convincingly. The plot was also well paced.

There is a great story here struggling to get out but sadly writing issues keep it thoroughly buried. 5/10.