Book Review: Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky
A band of heroes, a priestess determined to defeat the evil that threatens the land, and a prophecy that is the necessary fulfillment of conditions to defeat the Dark Lord all sounds like your bog-standard epic fantasy. The typical sort of epic fantasy that has been around since the 1980s and probably written in three or more volumes. Perhaps even one of those interminable series that just keeps going on and on. Almost certainly there would be your typical map, maybe a glossary, or a dramatis personae. In the hands of Adrian Tchaikovsky, however, Spiderlight is a lean short novel. It takes the epic fantasy formula template and in the midst of executing that formula, ruthlessly and entertainingly interrogates and examines it.
Book Review: Awakenings by Edward Lazellari
Two denizens of New York City, both with a mysterious amnesia, turn out to be connected to each other and to interdimensional intrigue with the fantasy realm of Aandor in Edward Lazellari’s debut novel Awakenings. Given that the other realms and the greater universe are offscreen and only referred to, what the novel comes out to be is an unusual take on urban fantasy, where the fantastic intrusion is from a fantasy realm rather than from, say, Faerie. The novel’s point of view primarily alternates between the two amnesiac characters. Cal MacDonell is a model NYPD cop with a wife and a young daughter. Straitlaced, straight-up family man who does his job and holds to his word. He’s the archetype of the stalwart, respectable police officer who takes “to protect and serve” seriously. This icon of order, and he does feel like an archetype, might even take that to extremes. As we learn more about him and his past, the revelations slot in perfectly with the character as he currently exists.
Audiobook Review: Infomocracy by Malka Older
A timely dive into the electoral politics and shenanigans of the future, Malka Older’s debut novel Infomocracy does a deep dive into a future where even with decentralized micro democracy, the problems of power and politics remain, even if they have altered their forms. The monopolization of search engine technology by a company called Information has led to the atomization of society and nearly the entire world into microdemocratic states with outposts throughout the world, or sometimes just regionally or locally. Twenty years in, the next election, which has been previously globally dominated by one party, is being viewed with suspicion and alarm. If Heritage, the overall winner the last two election cycles, should win again, the microdemocratic trend might ossify and die on the vine. But governmental change is a scary thing, scary enough that people might take advantage of the election to push their own power plays.
Book Review: Wolf’s Empire: Gladiator by Claudia Christian and Morgan Grant Buchanan
My love and abiding interest of things revolving around Ancient Rome are absolutely no secret to anyone who knows me even to a slight degree. I’m that kind of person who took a long bus ride while in Rome just so I could get to a point on the Via Appia, the highway that connected Rome to points south in Italy, so I could stand on it, walk on it for a short bit, and imagine the history I had experienced, on top of all of the other ancient ruins I had already explored. I’ve been reading space opera since the earliest days of my genre reading, devouring the likes of DUNE and Cherryh’s Chanur novels through today’s space opera writers ranging from Alastair Reynolds to Rhonda Mason. This “peanut butter and chocolate” of my interests comes together in WOLF’S EMPIRE: GLADIATOR, the first novel in collaboration between Claudia Christian (who many readers may recognize as being a star of Babylon 5) and Morgan Grant Buchanan. As I mentioned in last week’s interview, both have collaborated before, notably on Ms. Christian’s memoir, but this marks a significant change in their literary ambitions.
Interview with Claudia Christian and Morgan Grant Buchanan about WOLF’S EMPIRE
I had the wonderful opportunity to read a review copy of WOLF’S EMPIRE: GLADIATOR, and to put questions to the authors, Claudia Christian and Morgan Grant Buchanan, about their collaboration. Given the premise of the novel, mixing space opera with the Roman Empire, and my fandom for Ms. Christian going back to the days of Babylon-5, I was delighted to have a chance to do both.
Book Review: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
“Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things.” Beginning the book with an apocalypse as a cold open is just the first audacious and bold maneuver that writer N.K. Jemisin pulls off in The Fifth Season, the first of the Broken Earth series. The Fifth Season continues Jemisin’s technique of crafting interesting, diverse and unique fantasy worlds to explore ideas, concepts and characters in her burgeoning signature style. I listened to this in audiobook form, an excellent narration by Robin Miles. After that cold open, and a very brief immersion into the world, less than a page, the novel launches us into the stories of the characters. The novel focuses on three characters, and given that apocalypse, one quickly realizes that two of the characters’ stories predate that critical cold open event, and one, the character we meet first, is a survivor of the aftermath. The characters are all women, all in different stages of life.
