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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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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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
Amazon link
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
Amazon link
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 Troll’s Grindstone, by Elizabeth Boyer
pros: Norse mythology; complicated situation with complicated characters; grand scale; simple and complex heroes; lots of scenery and imagery; Fridmarr and Gotiskolker; Thurid; characters have flaws; the Rhbus; the water sisters; the dogs
cons: a bit old-fashioned with the stoic hero and the beautiful, strong, tragic heroine; strong, tragic heroine only has a small part in the story, mostly as inspiration for the heroes
misc: Alfar; alar; scipling; heart of the mountain; mines; limp; Elbegast; Leifr; swords/knives, etc. not keeping an edge, crumbling; Pentacle; Sorkvir
ISBN 0345012046; pub 1989
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
White Knight, by Jim Butcher
pros: Harry Dresden; Lash; Thomas’ job; the scene in Thomas’ apartment; Mouse; Ramirez; Murphy’s new gun; Justine’s new role; Harry’s guitar playing; Harry and Lara’s escape
cons: not as many jokes and humor as in past 2 books; it ended; not enough Butters
misc: Black Council; Black Hats; Cowl; ghouls; vampire courts; Skavis; Malvora; White Council; Grey cloak; Wiccans; freeholding lord; Walkers or Outsiders
favorite quips: “cult of porn-star sorceresses” and “age is always advancing and I’m fairly sure it’s up to no good”
ISBN 0451461401; 416pp; pub. 2007
The Novels of Tiger and Del, Vol. I, by Jennifer Roberson
pros: fast paced; interesting characters; lots of action; interesting world; good entertainment; the bay stud
cons: some of the fights and trials felt contrived and just to give the characters something to do; the role of women in the south was stifling even to a reader; Del seemed a little unworthy of Tiger – I’ll have to see how the rest of the stories work out; Bellin the Cat was a little to cute; the villians were formulaic; the pathos of Del’s situation wasn’t so immediate when related through Tiger’s eyes
ISBN 0756403197; 640pp; 2006 (Vol. I)
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)
Bloodring, by Faith Hunter
pros: fast-paced; likable characters; interesting premise; well-visualized; good blend of fantasy and science (more fantasy than hard science)
cons: obviously a set-up for a series; relationships are established but not developed very well; cliff-hanger ending; heroine’s dilemma/danger seemed weakly developed, there was a lot undefined or possibly inconsistent details; mage heat idea seemed silly and contrived to me
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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