Review:The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch

With their options seemingly exhausted and Locke virtually on death's door due to poison Locke and Jean receive an  offer of assistance from a source they would never have expected, one of the Bondsmagi. The Bondsmagi in question, Patience, is willing to heal Locke in exchange for the gentlemen bastards' aid in rigging an election in the city of Karthain. However the opposition have an interesting cats-paw of their own, Sabetha Belacross Locke's former lover and someone whose skills are a match for his own.

The story is divided into two main parts; the events in the present and events in the past detailing Locke's first meeting with Sabetha, interesting turning points in their relationship before detailing efforts of the teenage gentleman bastards to stage a play while juggling an overbearing patron and other obstacles. One advantage to this strategy is Lynch gets to use some interesting characters such as father Chains and Calo and Galdo who were killed in earlier books. There is however a major drawback which I will come back to.

The book starts with a roar and hiss but runs out of steam in the middle and never really recovers. Part of this is due to a lack of tension. Sabetha obviously has no intention of doing serious harm to Locke and Jean and we know that the main characters are under no threat in the past storyline, ie the major drawback. Part of this could have been alleviated by focusing more on the conflict between the two Bondsmagi factions as this is clearly a major plot point but an underdeveloped one.

Having said that the characters remain engaging and there is an interesting touch of world-building which hints at the direction this series will take.

While there are some pacing issues and a serious lack of tension strong characters make for a worthwhile read. 7/10.  

Review: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Ten years ago a cosmic event named calamity occurred. This burst of energy gave a select group of men and women, now called epics, extraordinary powers. However instead of using these abilities for the betterment of mankind the epics seized power for themselves. David is a young man bent on revenge. Ten years ago he watched Steelheart, the epic who rules what was once Chicago and is said to be invincible, murder his father.  However David has seen something no one else alive has, he has seen Steelheart bleed. David begins a search for the Reckoners, a shadowy group who fight the epics, although only some of the low level ones. He hopes he can convince them to help him against Steelheart and gain his vengeance.

One aspect of writing that Sanderson often has trouble with is humour and this is really evident in this novel. David is meant to be consumed by the need for vengeance in a dystopian world but is seemingly obsessed with random metaphors. This is really distracting in the first half of the book and doesn't sit well with the subject matter. Thankfully this eases once the action picks up later in the book. 

I noticed in The Rithmatist, Brandon's other young adult novel, that the protagonist seemed younger than he should have and that is also the case for David here and is something Sanderson needs to address.

Sanderson is well known for his well thought out and exceedingly well organized magic systems. What he delivers in Steelheart is very out of character. The weaknesses for the epics are especially arbitrary and I hope he addresses this later in the series.

Having said all of that Sanderson does work some very well shadowed plot twists into the mix and the group of support characters is very well realized.

Overall Steelheart is a book of two halves with a problem riddled beginning and an action packed conclusion. 7/10. 

Review: First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher

Following Gaius Sextus' death and the destruction of the capital of Alera the remaining legions of Alera attempt to regroup as the hordes of the Vord continue to advance. With no other option they decide to retreat to the Calderon valley, where count Bernard and his wife Amara have been preparing for the invasion for years. Meanwhile Gauis Octavian, aka Tavi, as arrives back in Alera with his makeshift forces of Aleran's and Canim and enacts a desperate plan to arrive to the battlefield in time to make a difference.

I can't help but thinking that Butcher wrote himself into a bit of corner in this final volume. It is without a doubt an action packed novel which relentless pace never lets up. However that is not necessarily a good thing and the character development, especially for the main cast, suffers as a result.


There are however two support characters where Butcher does succeed. There was a very well worked juxtaposition between Fidelias (alias Valiar Marcus) and Lady Aquitaine who have been antagonists at various parts in the series. Both have an opportunity for redemption and their stories work out very differently.

One constant throughout the series is that Tavi has always tried to come to an understanding with the enemies of Alera. With the Vord queen showing signs of very real intelligence and a yearning to understand some aspects of the Alerans for Tavi not to make an attempt to reason with her seems grossly out of character. 

Overall the final volume of the Codex Alera series is a bit of a mixed bag. There is non-stop action but the good character growth in a couple of support characters is not echoed in the main cast. 7/10.

Review: The Sea Watch by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Stenwold Maker is poised to bring in his ally Jodry Drillen into the vacant speaker's chair in the assembly, something he has been working on since the war with the wasp empire ended. However Master Failwright, a merchant with an interest vested in shipping, competes for attention at the assembly. Failwright is adamant that Collegium's trade by sea has been targeted by a hostile force as a number of ships have disappeared. While most of the assembly is incredulous at the claims, Stenwold decides to investigate and quickly learns that there are other powers interested in taking Collegium.

Stenwold is the main focus in this book. He has to deal with the juxtaposition of what his life was as a spymaster compared to what it now is which is more of a statesman. He is put through a ringer which tests his courage and beliefs. At least half a dozen support characters are given point of view sections throughout the book and the author does an excellent job of displaying the complexity of their motivations and ensuring the reader has a vested interest in all of them.

The world-building is interesting with the introduction of the sea-kinden who have recently taken their first steps into aptitude. This gives the author a chance to expand on the steam-punk aspects in an environment where no fuels can be burned, for obvious reasons.

The pace is well maintained throughout and the book stands rather well on it's own.

Overall strong character development and interesting world-building make for a strong installment. 8.5/10. 

Advent Ghosts 2013: A Christmas Wish

A giggle tore itself from Sasha’s throat. Flaky snowflakes lazily drifted to the thick carpet of white around her.

“Thank you Santa” she whispered, her breath misting in front of her face.

Sasha hated to admit it but she had almost stopped believing. After all she was eleven years old.Her wish for a white Christmas had come true, something her daddy could never give her.

Then she noticed the old woman huddled in a threadbare blanket. Sasha immediately knew she was dead; nobody’s skin should be the shade of overripe blueberries.

                 “I’ve killed her.” Sasha murmured and began to shake. 

Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

 
Having been rescued by the rebel elements based in district thirteen, Katniss has to come to terms with the loss of her home district 12 and the fact that Peeta is in the hands of the Capital. The rebels want her to be a symbol for the revolution but can she do it knowing her every action could have dire consequences for Peeta?

This novel suffers from serious pacing issues with the first half of the novel being unbelievably slow. Events are happening within the novel but with Katniss being our sole view point and seemingly uninterested in large parts of the war we get don't get much of an appreciation of this. This leads into another problem with larger events happening on a rather quick timescale and no explanation for how this was accomplished. For example the conquest of the districts seems to be done within a matter of weeks but our one glimpse into this seems to have the rebels losing. Katniss as inspiration and the continuous flood of propaganda just doesn't seem a realistic explanation.

I was impressed that for the first time in the series another layer of complexity is added to some characters. For the most part the characters have been decidedly black and white but that is no longer the case. Gale is probably the best of example of this.

Overall this novels suffers some severe pacing issues though it was nice to see a complexity added to some of the characters. 6.5/10.

Review: The Fall of Ventaris by Neil McGarry and Daniel Ravipinto

After gaining membership into the Grey, a secret society of thieves, Duchess decides to continue taking risks. She attempts to set up a business partnership with a talented weaver Jana, who has been unable to gain membership to the weavers' guild due to her race. Gaining Jana membership and securing her trust will be no easy task but Duchess has a plan. Duchess also decides she needs to hire some muscle to watch her back. However she needs someone she can trust yet desperate enough to work for her. She decides to try and free Pollux, a disgraced white who no one quite knows what to do with. If that weren't enough she is contacted by one of the Uncle's henchman about recovering a precious ring that was gambled away.

The various sub-plots were a nice touch that worked really well in keeping the pace moving at a good clip. They provided minor resolutions across the novel and all tied quite nicely into the central plot.

As with the first book the story is very character driven with Duchess firmly in the center. I think a lot of writers lose sight of this and is one of this series greatest strengths. Some very interesting supporting characters were introduced, all very much with agendas of their own.

Again the world-building is strong and unobtrusive.

Overall the second book in this series builds nicely on it's predecessor and goes on to top it. 8.75/10.