Pros: Fascinating culture and events Cons: Logical inconsistencies; characters held at a distance Rating: 3 out of 5
Release date: May 7, 2013
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Robert Silverberg’s Tales of Majipoor collects together seven stories set in his world of Majipoor. They span thousands of years of history, from sometime after the arrival of the colonists from Earth, through several pivotal historical events (and a few more personal stories), to an excerpt from the life of Lord Valentine.
Disclaimer: I haven’t read Silverberg’s other Majipoor books (this happens sometimes when you review books—publishers can send you books from series you haven’t gotten to yet). On the one hand, it’s useful sometimes to have a fresh perspective, mostly so that new or prospective readers have some idea of where they can and can’t jump into a series. On the other hand, there were setting details that I had issues with, and I freely admit that they might be addressed within the other books. This does mean, however, that this book doesn’t stand entirely on its own. Individual stories do, and they provide a nice glimpse of Majipoor, but the whole of the book leaves some world-building holes.
Pros: Interesting world-building and story Cons: Some discordant tones Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Release date: May 7, 2013
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
The clockwork plague reduced some people to mindless plague-spreading zombies, while elevating others to empathy-free brilliant mad scientists called clockworkers. As the clockworkers fall deeper and deeper into plague-fueled fugues, they lose touch with their humanity, often hurting, torturing, and killing people in their mad quest to build ever-stranger devices. Thaddeus Sharpe has dedicated himself to hunting and killing clockworkers, often destroying their automatons and devices in the process. When a mysterious young woman, Sofiya, working for an even more mysterious man named Mr. Griffin, hires Thad to steal a device from a clockworker, things inevitably go wrong. Thad cares more about killing the clockworker and rescuing a young boy than he does obtaining the device, and soon he finds himself forced further and further into Mr. Griffin’s dangerous schemes.
Those schemes take him, the circus he travels with, Sofiya, and the boy he rescued (Nikolai) to the palace of the tsar, embroiling him in court politics, assassination attempts, and one great, horrific clockworker plan that threatens everyone.
Pros: Magnificent characterization, pacing and plotting Cons: Somewhat standard medieval setting (not wholly a negative; read review for more details) Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Release date: May 7, 2013
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Celine and Amelie Fawe are orphaned sisters trying to make a living in a destitute peasant village. Celine pretends to have her mother’s abilities to read the future, and Amelie protects them both with sword and dagger. Then one day an old woman pays Celine a visit and offers her money to predict a particular future for a particular young woman—an offer Celine can’t refuse, since it comes from the prince who rules the land with brutal efficiency. When Celine finds herself compelled to offer different counsel, the sisters are forced to flee their home and seek safety with the prince’s brother, Anton.
Prince Anton is contending with a series of mysterious deaths of beautiful young women, and he offers Celine and Amelie a place to live and work in safety if they can use their supposed skills to find the culprit. Suddenly two poor sisters are tossed head-first into a world of power, ambition, and money, in which even the best of people must be hardhearted and swift to act. Danger is all around them, and Celine has no idea how to prevent more girls from dying.
Pros: Fantastic character interplay; gorgeous world-building. I think I’m falling in love with Ritsuko and Mikani. Cons: Occasional difficulty telling which of the partners is speaking Rating: 5 out of 5
Release date: April 30, 2013
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Celeste Ritsuko and Janus Mikani solve murders for the Criminal Investigation Division. She’s the division’s first female inspector, and an orderly, meticulous detective. He’s a sloppy, charming pain-in-the-ass with an extremely useful—and very debilitating—sixth sense. The two of them have forged an unlikely and delightfully symbiotic partnership as they work to protect people from harm.
Then a daughter of one of the great Houses goes missing, and they’re under the gun to find her—or else. When she turns up murdered in a particularly unusual and gruesome fashion, traces of magic polluting the scene, Ritsuko and Mikani realize they’re hunting a madman. And if they don’t find him soon, losing their jobs will be the least of their worries.
Pros: Wonderful world; entrancing exploration of romance/friendship/attraction within the context of war and racism; good characters Cons: Somewhat predictable; the book is slower than implied by the back cover text Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Varian is the leader of the Na’Chi—the half-bloods nobody believed existed—who have come seeking sanctuary among humans. The Na’Chi came to the Light Blade council because in the world of their demonic Na’Reish parents, their existence alone is a death sentence. However, while the leader of the Light Blades and the Lady’s Temple Elect are willing to offer the half-breeds an alliance, many others aren’t so sure. The Na’Chi need a certain amount of blood to survive. They also possess physical attributes that make them quite dangerous to the average human, which angers and frightens many of those around them. It doesn’t help that there are years of racial hatred to contend with.
Varian and Kymora, the blind Temple Elect, spend a lot of time together. Everyone else can see what Varian wants to deny—that there’s no stopping the feelings developing between them. He’s afraid that if he allows himself to care for Kymora, she’ll become an even greater target for those fomenting discontent against his kind’s presence in the city. It doesn’t help that among the Na’Reish, anyone with such a physical imperfection as blindness would have been killed for the defect, and the Na’Chi on the whole have picked up a few Na’Reish prejudices. It isn’t only the humans who aren’t entirely unified.
Of course, Varian won’t have time to handle everything carefully and slowly. There are those determined to drive the Na’Chi away, or preferably, kill them all—even the small children. And they don’t care if their own Temple Elect stands in the way.
Pros: Fantastic new world; intriguing exploration of the development of friendship and love in the context of war and racism Cons: Somewhat predictable Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Annika is the half-blood daughter of the Na’Reish leader. She was created as vengeance against her human family, and her demon father feels nothing but loathing for her. She’s had to learn to be clever and light on her feet to avoid pain and humiliation at the hands of her father and his people, while hiding a great gift for healing—that can also kill.
Kalan is a Light Blade warrior captured by the Na’Reish. Annika wants to use him to escape, promising him freedom in exchange for safe passage to—and within—human territory. If her father’s people find them, they’ll kill her. Kalan may kill her himself if he doesn’t learn to trust her. And if they reach human territory, well, then things really become dangerous.
Together they must convince the Council of the Light Blade warriors that change is coming, and that the Na’Reish are even more dangerous and numerous than previously realized. But the council is hiding dangerous secrets, and some of them are afraid of what Annika might represent.
In Shifting Plains, a woman named Tava feared all shapeshifters because of what her mother endured at their hands before Tava’s birth. Eventually Tava discovered that those shapeshifters were renegades, and not at all representative of their culture. Now that the Shifterai as a whole know about the violent, brutal “Clan Mongrel” (as they call themselves), they’ve sent a group to hunt down evidence of what’s really going on. Among those sent along is Kenyen Sin Siin, brother-in-law to Tava, a strong shifter in his own right.
It doesn’t take long before Kenyen stumbles right into trouble, and ends up having to masquerade first as a renegade, and then as an innocent townsperson. There’s a big wrinkle adding to his headaches, though: the human whose face he wears was working with a young woman named Solyn to figure out what’s been going on as their village has been infiltrated by the Mongrels. She’s used to having to be wary of anyone who doesn’t act quite as they should, but usually because those people are being more cruel, violent, or rude. Now her best friend has returned from a trip and he seems… matured, more certain of himself, and if anything, even nicer.
Pros: Great fantasy worldbuilding; playful and original erotic romance Cons: Shaky start with a too-”perfect” female lead Rating: 3.5 out of 5
One of the pitfalls of reviewing books is that sometimes a publisher sends you a book from the middle of a series, and you have to dive in without any of the early series background. That was pretty easy with Jean Johnson’s “Sons of Destiny” eight-book series, thankfully; she’s pretty careful to include enough information to allow the books to stand surprisingly well on their own. The basic premise of the series is that eight brothers (four sets of non-identical twins, all powerful mages) are the subject of a prophecy, and their homeland, out of fear of the prophecy, has exiled them to a deserted island. Among other things, the prophecy covers the fact that each brother shall find his destined bride, in order from the eldest brother to the youngest, and the youngest is fated to be the matchmaker who ensures that the prophecy comes true. Thus each book focuses on a single erotic romantic pairing, as well as the development of the burgeoning community on the island of Nightfall, and the continuing story of the prophecy, mysterious attacks on the brothers, and the island’s bid for independence.
I started with book five, The Cat, followed by The Storm, The Flame, and The Mage. I loved them so much that I wanted to read the rest of the series from the beginning.
“Nessantico is a city rich with place and presence, with culture and intrigue. It is the capital of a vast empire and the main seat of the Concenzia faith. It is here that the mighty play their games of power. But now both the Faith and the empire stand balanced at a crucial turning point, for it is the fiftieth anniversary of Kraljica Marguerite ca’Ludovici’s reign and her long-awaited Jubilee Celebration may well prove the perfect catalyst for chaos and conflict.”
The battle lines are familiar ones: an iron-fisted passing ruler who has managed to maintain peace for long years. An heir who is tired of waiting for his throne, eager to prove himself by expanding his holdings. A faith divided by those who preach tolerance and those who would see heretics tortured and killed. Politics, force of arms, and faith are inextricably intertwined—and split down the middle between two sides.
Pros: Sizzling hot kinky sex; fantastic characters; interesting plot Cons: Severe drop in pacing for most of the first half of the book Rating: 4 out of 5
Raina is half-human and half-succubus—and all witch. She uses her skills with witchcraft to prevent her from needing to kill in order to feed her succubus side. She also takes in other succubi and incubi who aren’t so fond of having to kill. She runs a bordello in which a combination of their abilities with sex and her facilities with magic enable them to get what they need, and give their clients what they need, without harm to anyone. It’s a delicate balance, however, and a hard push in the wrong direction could send it all toppling down.
That hard push could come in the form of Isaac, a rogue incubus who stole something from Lucifer. Mikhael, a Dark Guardian, is right on his trail, and determined to drag him back to where he belongs. Raina wants to give Isaac a chance to do the right thing, while Mikhael is certain Isaac is incapable of that. So Raina and Mikhael enter into a sort of truce. Isaac has the protection of Raina’s bordello for a time, but Mikhael isn’t going anywhere until things are solved one way or the other. Which gives him plenty of time to realize just how unusual Raina is, and how much he could come to care about her…
