Gods in Darkness, by Karl Edward Wagner

pros: well-written; interesting worlds and characters; good example of an antihero; well-developed dark characters; realistic people mixed with extraordinary characters; inevitable results of ambition and violence aren’t glossed over; Teres; 1st novel, Bloodstone, was the best

cons: Kane was a little predictable; Kane isn’t very likeable; the three books leave you hanging; transition from 2nd book to 3rd didn’t make sense; what happened to the girl from the 2nd book – I thought she was in the tower before Kane

misc: Bloodstone; Dark Crusade; Darkness Weaves;

ISBN 189238924; 528pp; pub. 2002
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The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie

pros: one of best books of 2007; great characters, situations, story; Logen Ninefingers/Bloody Nine and his little sayings; Glokta; complex plot, characters, action counterbalanced with simple elements of daily life; portrayal of wizards and wizardry; cynicism; chapter titles

cons: next 2 books in series aren’t available in US yet; ends too soon; Glokta can be hard to like; not sure where he’s going with Ardee’s storyline; Jezal’s character is unlikeable, a little inconsistent; names of lords and power players in city were confusing at times

misc: you have to be realistic; pot; blanket; Shanka/Flatheads; Dogman; Logen’s opponents; Ferro; Bayaz; Malacus Quai; Councils; Inquisitors; Arch Lector

ISBN 159102594X; 531pp; pub. 2007
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Poltergeist, by Kat Richardson

pros: good writer, good series; interesting premise, well handled; same group of characters as before, but with different emphases; noirish detective novel feel; only a hint of romance; really works in the city and its quirks and personality; coffee addiction worked in as small detail, including Starbucks

cons: not a lot gets resolved; love interest was there as a plot device; Harper’s personality and circumstances could have used more details; too long since I read first book in series

misc: Greywalker Book 2; Harper Blaine; Seattle; psychokinesis; research project; fake experiment

ISBN 0451461509; 352pp; pub. 2007
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Red Seas Under Red Skies, by Scott Lynch

pros: continuation with good, interesting characters; fast moving; complex plot; interesting new cities/states/societies; pirates; rapelling test; creepy scene in the Night Gallery; twist at the end

cons: mysterious enemies are a bit too conveniently mysterious; the Bondsmagi are more a plot device than a specific element; I liked Jean a whole lot more than Locke; jumping around from time and place didn’t work as well this time; weak plot elements – if Jean and Ezri are discussing Jean’s problems in Ezri’s room, it could easily be overheard; cliffhanger ending

misc: pirate stronghold; Zamira; Port Prodigal; Ghostways; Tal Verrar; Requin; Sinspire; Gentleman Bastards; Carousel Hazard; card cheating; Archon; Leocanto Kosta and Jerome de Ferra; Selendri; brass arm with knives; tricky chairs

ISBN 0553804685; 576pp; pub. 2007
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The Black Throne, by Fred Saberhagen and Roger Zelazny

pros: the authors; the story idea; story moves along quickly; twist on magic and parallel worlds; explanations for some of Poe’s elements in poems, like the tapping and the raven and the cask of Amontillado

cons: sketchy details; seems hastily written; not familiar with Poe’s body of work; resolution was weak

misc: Edgar Allan Poe; alcoholic; alcohol; ghost ship; sea voyage; balloon voyage; vortex; plague; dwarf; orangutang; zombie in wine box; very small wineglasses; sandcastle; alchemy
ISBN 0743435796; 288pp; pub. 2002
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The Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander

pros: classic fantasy; great characters and world; fast, easy read; there is reality and the darkness of war and evil, but has an overall upbeat and positive feeling; Gurgi; Kaw; the magic gifts at the end of The Book of Three; Taran’s banner; the final ending

cons: repetitious elements of characters habits and sayings get a little annoying; some pat situations and solutions; a little predictable; Eilonwy was headstrong and foolish; Glew

misc: The Book of Three; The Black Cauldron; The Castle of Llyr; Taran Wanderer; The High King; Assistant Pig-Keeper; Caer Dallben; Hen Wen

ISBN: various editions and an anthology
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Territory, by Emma Bull

pros: author; well-written story with great characters; historical setting is realistic and believable and details of area and time are very good; great idea; plenty of action but still doesn’t feel like a typical fast-paced action fantasy; Chu; newspaper details

cons: ending leaves me hanging; I would have liked to see more details about Jesse’s abilities and his lessons with Chow Lung; would have liked some more details of the conflicts between the various wizard factions

misc: OK Corral; Tombstone; Wyatt Earp; Cochise County; silver mine; Chinatown; Mildred/Millie; typesetter; Nuggest; Tombstone Epitaph; cowboys; ranchers; Mexican border

ISBN 0312857357; 320pp; pub. 2007
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Nameless Magery, by Delia Marshall Turner

pros: fun story; likable heroine; good twists on old elements; fast-moving story; some great characters; interesting explanation of magic and different ways of “seeing” it

cons: Lisane makes some foolish choices that seem inconsistent with her general character; details can be sketchy and sometimes seem inconsistent; I would have likes to have more details at the end

misc: seeing magic; ller and Lle; Kahain; kings; wizards; school for mages; mage school; Detter; neck bands

ISBN 0345424301; 240pp; pub. 1998
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The Demon and the City, by Liz Williams

pros: great idea; interesting characters and plot; Chinese culture and mixture with Indian pantheon; Zhu Irzh; the badger/tea pot; the guild of dowsers; Mhara; Robin Yuan; the forgotten temple; the ultimate fate of the angry dowser and his goddess

cons: very violent; the demon’s lover is just unlikable, although a bit sympathetic; too much mayhem and collateral damage; reality is very dark and ugly; what happened to the second celestial being?

misc: Singapore 3; meridians; Chi and feng shui lines; viral drugs; wealthy society vs. working and poor; earthquakes; Celestial boat; Celestials; Jade Emperor; demoted goddess; Bad Dog City; Chinese afterlife; Detective Inspector Chen; Sergeant Ma; exorcists; sorcerors; black pill; devas; Hell money

ISBN 1597800473; 256pp; pub. 2007
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Alpha, by Catherine Asaro

pros: interesting story idea; interesting characters, especially Alpha; dogfight; Jamie (grandaughter); future technologies, esp. nanomedicine

cons: sometimes stilted writing style; contrived plot at times, esp. attacks on the general’s life and Charon’s return; doubt about Sunrise Alley; ending was coy; androids and machine intelligences are more interesting than people or plot; doesn’t discuss what seems like an obvious problem – if you get your neural pathways transferred to an android’s body, don’t you still die? The immortal android is just a copy of the original. If you don’t die, which one is the real you?

misc: General; prodigy; self-determination; self-programming; love; courage; F-42; Banshee; fighter pilot; mesh; nanotechnology; android; robot army; nanomedicines; cardiac arrest; angina; aging; evolution of artificial intelligence; sequel to Sunrise Alley

ISBN 1416520813; 288pp; pub. 2006
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One Hex of a Wedding, by Yasmine Galenorn

pros: likable characters; believable plot; believable family issues; the way Em uses her abilities to track down the stalker; Murray and White Deer; Jimbo and his dog

cons: predictable; reads like any romantic suspense with magic thrown in; the business with the ex at the party didn’t really add to the story; the myriad of family strife details, everyday life issues, etc., don’t add to the story

misc: Chintz n’ China mystery; Emerald O’Brien mystery; crystal necklace; redheaded stalker; bustier; wedding-dress fiasco; Irish faerie and magic

ISBN 0425211177; 272pp; pub. 2006
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When True Night Falls, by C.S. Friedman

pros: good series; question of good vs. evil and if evil can ever be justified when used to combat evil and the question of redemption; the great endeavor started by the prophet shows signs of fruition; more is revealed about Tarrant’s motivation; Hesseth; Jenseny; the sea voyage; Jenseny’s solution

cons: Damien’s angst gets old fast; not enough details about the Iezu and the evil that fuels Tarrant’s magic; Hesseth’s fate and the timing of her fate; the Matria’s stranglehold on power was a little unbelievable; the troubled future, especially for the Rakh; what was the fate of the merchants?

misc: Coldfire Trilogy; Undying prince; Karril; Calesta; Siza; black lands; crystal; trees that suck the life out of you with their roots; horses; body kept alive in vat; deep dungeon in lava caverns; the “light” that Jenseny can see; “invisible” dagger

ISBN 0756403162; 560pp; pub. 2005
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Ghost of a Chance, by Yasmine Galenorn

pros: likable charcters; well-presented “paranormal” situations; family life details; love interest; Murray; Grandmother; multicutural elements without being patronizing or using stereotypes

cons: way too many cute tea details; Em’s actions at end are just stupid, and thus situation is contrived

misc: Chintz ‘N China Mystery; Emerald O’Brien mystery

ISBN 0425191281; 272pp; pub. 2003
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Wolf Who Rules, by Wen Spencer

pros: sequel to Tinker; we learn more about Elvish society and the importance of their presence near Pittsburg; we learn a lot more about Windwolf and his household; the friction between human society and the elves; Tinker’s evolving personality; the dream elements; the dragons; the Tengu; this one is a lot more complex than Tinker; good action, believable situations and characters; Tinker’s evolving relationship with Pony and Stormsong; the political situations; the paparazzi and the elves’ reaction; Pony and Stormsong; Tinker’s reaction when watching The Wizard of Oz movie.

cons: Nathan’s fate; Esme’s role; Lain doesn’t appear very much; Tooloo’s role is in question

misc: Oni; Tengu; Riki; quantum physics; ghostland; Alice in Wonderland; Wizard of Oz; Vicereine

ISBN 1416520554; 368pp; pub. 2006
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Chimera, by Will Shetterly

pros: Well-written futuristic detective novel; Chase “Max” Maxwell; the Infinite pocket; Zoe Domingo (jaguar chimera); good plot, good action, believable situations; Mycroft; futuristic details; world with chimera everywhere; Max251’s hospital stays; the future’s version of recycling; in retrospect, Max’s reactions to Kris Doyle’s taste and smell during their lovemaking marathon; Max’s self-image as a “knight in grimy white armor”

cons: hard to tell if Zoe was very smart or if she was just impulsive; chimera rights and AI rights completely replace issues of civil rights for other minorities but their status never gets explained super androids role in police and high society isn’t as well-explained as it should have been; a megalomaniac like Chain probably wouldn’t have liked having so many copies of himself floating around since he wouldn’t be able to centrally control them all; final showdown was a too explosively violent for their survival to be believable, but it was cool

misc: AIs; gene-splicing; indentured servitude; Little Angels; gambling; Crittertown; riot

ISBN 031287543; 285pp; pub. 2001
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The Fixer, by Jon F. Merz

pros: fast-paced, fun read; lots of action; written like an old, gritty detective novel; vampire society; Zero; Lawson; Talya is an interesting, unusual tough-girl love interest

cons: some situations felt contrived; Lawson made some awfully stupid mistakes for such a hot-shot fixer; if the Council is on such fragile ground politically, then it shouldn’t have rebounded so easily at the end of the story; it’s hard to believe that just 2 fixers could solve such a huge conspiracy and then afterwards have everything run so smoothly; Council was just a convenient plot device

misc: assasins; wood-tipped bullets; martial arts; bushido; more books in series

ISBN 0786015004; 349pp; pub. 2002
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Sunrise Alley, by Catherine Asaro

pros: fast-paced; interesting premise and situations that illustrate dilemma; futuristic technology; likable AI entities; questions of age differences; Turner’s story; from Baen’s free library

cons: a bit too much detail in sexual interactions between Turner and Samantha; weak romance – it seemed contrived to drive the point of humanity of an AI/EI; apparent omnipotence of Charon (bad guy) was convenient, his failures were also very convenient; overall the story felt rushed

misc: electronically augmented clothing; orbital jets; underground community of machine intelligences, androids, and robots; military

ISBN 1416520791; 448 pages; pub. 2006
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Bedlam Boys, by Ellen Guon

pros: familiar characters, tells us about Kayla’s beginning as a healer; from Baen’s free library; prequel to Bedlam’s bard series with Mercedes Lackey; Elizabet and her grandmother; the ogress and Elizabet’s explanation that follows

cons: portrayal of gang members seemed naive; Kayla had some very foolish moments; Kayla seems to forget her previously tight friends very easily

misc: Chicano gangs; LA; crystal figurines; ghosts; foster care/system

ISBN 0671721771; 304pp; pub 1993
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Black Sun Rising, by C.S. Friedman

pros: fast-paced; well-written; interesting characters and world; interesting conflicts of good vs. evil and if evil can ever be used for good; Damien; Hesseth; the way religion is presented; this feels a lot more like SF than fantasy; the fear of a world with no fae

cons: characters can be very self-absorbed; Zen’s story felt incomplete; Damien’s sort of maudlin “love” for Ciani (Cee) seems out of character and contrived as a plot device – the real story is Damien and Tarrant’s relationship, with Cee as a pivotal part of that relationship

misc: fae; dark fae; Rakh; The Hunter; Neocount; Patriarch; Calesta; the forest; worms; crossbow; holy fire; caves; Coldfire Trilogy

ISBN 0756403146; 494pp; pub. 2005

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Circle of the Moon, by Barbara Hambly

pros: author; great characters and interesting world and problems; as story develops it gets better and more interesting; Shaldis gets more attention, as does Jethan; Oryn’s relationship with his servants and lords is developed more; the Teyn; the island Sisters; the status of the genies(Djinn); Pontifer the pig; Foxfire girl

cons: characters that were self-centered and unlikable suddenly become reliable and reasonable; Mohrvine is a convenient bad guy in terms of driving the plot; Red Silk Woman

misc: glass; Dream Eater; green gas; obsidian; moon; sea; islands; jennies
ISBN 0446618179; 544pp; pub. 2006

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