Review: Canticle by Ken Scholes

The birth of Rudolfo's son and heir to the Ninefold forest is imminent and several heads of state have converged to honour his first born child. During the feast a group of magicked assassins attack and kill several dignitaries including Hanric, the marsh queen’s shadow ruler. This forces young Winter to publicly take the throne. Rufolfo is inexplicably left untouched. Amid the turmoil Jin Li Tam gives birth to Jacob but the child is sickly, the result of the powders used to enable his conception. Rudolfo is left with no choice but to seek out Jin's father in hopes of a cure, a man he swore to kill when next they met. Meanwhile another metal man has arrived bearing news about a hidden library which stores all of the knowledge lost with Windwir's fall. Geb and Isaac are despatched to find it. Petronus and Li Tam are searching for an outside threat that they believe is responsible for Windwir's downfall, however people close to them may already be compromised.

Scholes does an excellent job of infusing an atmosphere of tension throughout the novel. I loved the frustration of the characters as they realized their choices were already anticipated by an overarching outside influence. Like the first novel Scholes’s pacing is spot on throughout and he uses multiple POV's shift and short sharp chapters to good effect. World-building is solid throughout as well without encroaching on the plot.

Overall Scholes certainly improves on his impressive debut. 8.5/10.

Review: Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik

Hammond arrives in Australia with a message for Laurence and Temeraire. The government has decided to reinstate Laurence into the Aerial Corps provided they agree to undertake a mission to Brazil and attempt negotiate a peace between the Tswana, who have come to recover what slaves they can, and the Portuguese. After some soul searching they agree but the trip to South America may not be as smooth as they would have hoped.

Like the previous volume Tongue of Serpents this book reads like a bit of a travelogue at times. I think the main problem is a lot of the tension from the earlier books is missing and I never believed that the characters were in any real peril. The conclusion is also a bit of a non-event and it almost feels like Novik is simply passing time in this volume and the last. The charm of the characters is still evident so there is still enough to keep fans of the series interested but I doubt it would win anyone else over.

Overall like its predecessor Crucible of Gold lacks a spark that made the earlier books so compelling. 7/10.

Review: The Gathering of the Lost by Helen Lowe

Five years have passed since the events of the first book and Malian and Kalan have gone into hiding. The heralds Jehane Mor and Tarathan arrive at the city of Ij during the grand festival of masks. There they find Haimyr minstrel of the house of night who attempts to solicit their aid in finding Malain as he refuses to believe that she is dead and the house of night needs her now more than ever. The heralds decline the offer and soon find themselves in a cat-and-mouse game of survival as an unknown force assassinates the members of the heralds guild across the city. Meanwhile a cartographer master Carrik has had to evade outlaws to reach a keep in the wilderness and fulfil his commission. Things at the keep however are not as simple as they seem.

The problem with a lot of middle books is that after the success of a debut novel the author tries to replicate the formula verbatim and delivers something too similar to the original. Lowe neatly side steps this problem. Her second novel has a very different feel and atmosphere to the original and I loved the change of pace and espionage feel to the opening with the heralds. With most of the action taking place away from the wall Lowe introduces us to some other interesting places in Haarth and the peoples and cultures are well realized and very believable. Malian and Kalan are also different people and certainly more mature than five years ago and Lowe moves very much away from the coming of age hero story in the original.

Overall Lowe second effort is stronger than the very good original and one of the better middle books I’ve read in some time. 8.5/10.

Review: Infinite Devotion by L.E. Waters

Maya continues delving into her pasts lives. This time she explores the incarnations of misunderstood noblewoman Lucrezia Borgia in Renaissance Italy, a young stowaway on a doomed Spanish invasion of Britain and Count Redmond O’Hanlon a robin Hood-like outlaw in Ireland. Linking the three lives is Maya's soul’s attempts to learn the lesson of devotion.

Like the first book the concept is a clever one that allows the author to set multiple short stories in different time periods. Again the time periods concerned are well researched and have an authentic feel to them.

The links between the lives and the interconnected lesson Maya's soul must learn were better explored than the first book which was an area I was looking for improvement. Pacing however is not quite as good. The Lucrezia's story and the beginning of the stowaway story lagged a bit. Luckily the pace picked up considerably through the middle of the second story and I thought The O'Hanlon one was very well balanced and the highlight of the three.

Overall Waters delivers a good read. Links between lives and hence the overarching story are better conveyed but pacing does suffer at times. 7/10.

Review: Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

Amara is a young woman training to become a Cursori, messenger/spy, for the first lord of Alera Gaius. As part of her graduation tests she is sent with her mentor Fidelias to infiltrate a mercenary camp. Betrayed by her mentor what she discovers instead is a plot to overthrow the first lord and after a narrow escape Gaius sends her to the borderlands where he believes his enemies will enact their plan. Tavi is an unusual boy, he is furyless, lacking access to the magic that everyone else has. He lives on a steadholt controlled by his widowed uncle Bernard and his aunt Isana. When Tavi goes in search of a group of missing sheep he is swept up in much larger events than he could have ever imagined.

Unlike The Dresden Files Butcher is writing in the third-person and has no problems making this adjustment. The magic system is interesting and well thought out. People have access to elemental furies that grant them powers based on that element. For example Isana is a watercrafter and can control water and can heal grievous wounds. However each element has a drawback, using the same example watercrafters are sensitive to other people's emotions and can be influenced and even overwhelmed by them.

The characters are all well realised and I loved the way Butcher contrasted their strengths and frailties. Isana is an exceptionally powerful woman but her society values women as wives and mothers which is something she isn't and she is very self-conscious of this. Tavi is unusually clever but lacks even the most basic fury crafting. The villains are also multi-layered. Fidelias may be betraying his lord but believes it was the good of the land and will sacrifice anything for this. The action is for the most part limited to the steadlands but there are glimpses that the world may be influenced by Roman history and there will be lots of opportunities to explore this in future volumes.

It is obvious that Butcher is highly influenced by traditional epic fantasies, such as Tolkein or Eddings so there isn't anything genre changing here but there is no doubt he makes this story his own. Butcher’s pacing is exceptional and he has a talent for writing large scale battles is something we haven't been able to see in the Dresden books.

Overall Butcher's attempt at epic fantasy while not genre changing is an exceptionally good one. 8.5/10.

News: Update on Russell Kirkpatrick's Silent Sorrow

Russell Kirkpatrick recently gave an update on the progress of his latest novel. You can see it here http://russellkirkpatrick.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/novel-progress-12-2/ . The interesting thing for me is that his two novels that I enjoyed the most are also the two that he did the most edits on. I think that is a very real trap for authors to get subsequent books in a series out without nearly enough revision and I imagine Brent Weeks would also be guilty of this. The great thing is that it sounds like Kirkpatrick is really putting in the hard yards for this one and I for one am looking forward to it.

Review: The Minority Council by Kate Griffin

After a chance encounter with a stranger the Midnight Mayor Matthew Swift learns about a new drug on the black market in some very tragic circumstances. Fairy dust enhances the magical abilities of the users but ultimately reduces them to fairy dust themselves after prolonged use. Matthew wants to shut the powerful fairy godmother down but the Alderman have an understanding with him that makes things difficult. Matthew also learns that the Alderman may not be as united as he once believed when he learns about a splinter group, who surprisingly offer Matthew their aid.

Griffin continues to do the things that have made this such an interesting series. London is again so well described that it becomes a character in itself, pacing is spot on and the banter is interesting while not being distracting. The major difference in this volume is Griffin starts to consider some big issues involving morality. Matthew and Templeman's differing stances on approaching issues is very well portrayed it is hard to say who is ultimately right.

Overall Griffin's writing keeps on going from strength to strength. 8.5/10.