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
Amazon link
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
Cry of Justice, by Jason Pratt
pros: thoughtful author; good ideas and situations; some very likeable characters; lots of things happening; Seifas
cons: special terms were too similar to Spanish or Latin words and felt awkward; a bit preachy or pedantic; some characters were annoying; choppy rhythm due to use of journal entries and alternating POV; too many descriptions and explanations – the story would have been shorter and the flow would have worked better with less dissertation
misc: Seifas; Jian; Portunista; philosophical; redemption; responsibility; really big birds; mysterious origin/purpose of good guy (Jian)
ISBN 0977888401; 480pp; pub. 2007
Shapechangers, by Jennifer Roberson
pros: interesting idea; female lead stands up for herself; Carillon matures; the animal lir
cons: female lead is more headstrong and stubborn than strong; reads too much like an old gothic romance; council-sanctioned rape and forcing pregnancy on captives to increase a race is disgusting and ruined the whole book and series for me
misc: Cheysuli; hawk; wolf; crofter’s daughter; half-breed; Old Ones
ISBN 0886771404; 224pp; pub. 1984
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling
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SPOILER WARNING!
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pros: it’s more of Harry; it’s resolution, finally; doesn’t coddle the reader – bad things happen; Snape, after all; Neville; Ron; the final resolution wasn’t exactly what I was expecting; the house elves; mobilized Hogwarts
cons: the very last part could have been left out and story would have been more powerful for me; so many deaths; the Malfoys don’t get destroyed; the wrong heroes get most of the glory; Dobby’s fate; how did Neville get the sword?
ISBN 0545010225; 2007
Messiah Node, by Lyda Morehouse
pros: continuation of an excellent series; tends to tie previous 2 stories together; threat of impending apocaplyse feels real and drives plot very well; AI as a messiah; Maizombies; angel characters; dragon AI developments; good ending; more of Mouse and Page
cons: not many; Michael is still annoying; would have liked to see more of angel Gabriel and Dee; ended too soon
ISBN 0451459296; 352pp; pub. 2003
Fallen Host, by Lyda Morehouse
pros: continuation of an excellent series; AI is one of the main characters; different spin on Lucifer as a fallen angel and his relationship with God; different spin on Inquisitors; consistent development on idea of organized, established religions as goverment; great heroine; angel characters; Mai and her polka band, Yakuza, the mob; street society in general
cons: characters from previous story are only bit players; Lucifer is a little overdone; I’d like to have seen more of the other angels and Mecca; certain characters die; Page and the dragon AI tend to upstage everyone else
ISBN 045145879; 352 pp; pub. 2002
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
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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