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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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
The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss
pros: well-written; interesting characters; interesting world; Auri; Denna; Kvothe; Sim and Wil; Ben; the trials at the Arcanum are very realistic and characters are well-written
cons: a bit too wordy; not enough action; I would have preferred more information on what it’s really all about; the whole world seems to be against Kvothe; a little too deliberately mysterious
ISBN 075640407X; 896pp; pub. 2007
Archangel Protocol, by Lyda Morehouse
pros: fast-paced, exciting story; unusual spin on familiar angel idea; likable characters; interesting world and premise (Medusa bomb, glass city, mutated humans); Mouse’s AI; use of AI as a character; virtual angels; LINK society and unLINKed computing and people; excellent, unusual series; each title in series has different viewpoint
cons: Michael was a little annoying; didn’t like the ending; religions as evil or bad guy; unsatisfying resolution to virtual angels threat; Out of print
ISBN 0451458273; 352 pp; 2001
To Ride a Rathorn, by P.C. Hodgell
pros: part of Kencyrath, Jamethiel Priest’s-Bane series; setting and dilemmas build on previous book and some problems resolved, including rathorn problem; ghost-horse; Jame is more appreciated and liked in this novel even though she still makes enemies; Jame finds out she’s a specific type of shanir; chaos is not so seemingly random; ending
cons: chaos in her wake; more questions are raised about her role and how her brother’s stability is such an issue; collateral damage–some good, interesting characters die or don’t get rescued; burning man dilemma still seemed confusing or unresolved
ISBN 1592221025; 432 pp; pub. 2006/2001
The Knight, by Gene Wolfe
pros: Gylf; interesting characters and settings; some interesting dilemmas; good portrayal of a boy in a man’s body–consistent throughout; duology rather than long series
cons: meandering account with many detours; constant references to common knowledge reader doesn’t share; contrived situations; cliffhanger
Part One of the Wizard Knight series
ISBN 0765347016; 544 pp; 2005 (reprint)
The Mirror Prince, by Violette Malan
pros: interesting enough story; interesting characters, even the villian; additional characters are as interesting as the main characters; descriptive; good female lead; interesting twists in typical faerieland setting; good new author to follow
cons: hero wasn’t very sympathetic; dilemma was contrived (wouldn’t they have noticed something wrong a lot sooner?)
ISBN 0756403391; 320 pp; pub. 2006
Nine Layers of Sky, by Liz Williams
pros: romance worked; use of angst wasn’t overdone; bad guys were sufficiently creepy; interesting ideas and play on Russian folklore/mythology; very descriptive
cons: sketchy details; I’d have liked to see more about the bogotyr and at least a little more about the parallel world and the colonel
ISBN 0553584995, 448 pages, pub. 2003
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