Fantasy and Science Fiction Book Reviews

(Harper Collins Voyager UK, EOS US ) The celebrated New York Times bestselling master of fantasy returns with the thrilling conclusion to his enthralling, explosive Darkwar Saga . . . Wrath of a Mad God Book three of The Darkwar Saga "At this very moment, a dome of black energy is being expanded in a vale in the far north. This is not merely an invasion, but the beginning of a colonization, a process that will end with the complete annihilation of every life-form on this world." The Darkwar rages upon Midkemia and Kelewan, bringing bleak days of destruction and despair. To save the future of both worlds, the powerful sorcerer Pug and select members of the secretive Conclave of Shadows must journey deep into the dangerous realm of the bloodthirsty Dasati, there to carry out an audacious mission that has little, if any, chance of succeeding. In Midkemia, young warriors Tad and Zane, and their fellow soldiers, protect the Kingdom from raiders. And Pug's beloved wife, Miranda, finds herself a prisoner of the Dasati and, even more ominously, of Pug's nemesis, the evil sorcerer Leso Varen. Salvation may come from a friend thought long dead, an unlikely ally whose remarkable powers will be sorely needed in the momentous battle to come . . . a final, fevered onslaught against the most malevolent agents of evil ever known. Classic Feist - a surprise ending to a fascinating and excellent series. Don't miss it! Both editions are available from the Gateway Amazon store!

KATE ELLIOTT: SHADOW GATE (Orbit PB) Marit was pretty sure she had been murdered. She recalled the assassin's dagger, thrust up to pierce her heart. A certain path to a swift death, as any reeve would know. Her dying vision had shown her the next world but her spirit had not made the journey. She woke alone, sprawled on a Guardian altar with only a cloak for a covering. Her eagle was dead. The Guardians had ruled the Hundred, but they had long disappeared from the world, leaving the reeves to administer justice in their stead. But this peace has been shattered by a desperate army, slaughtering all in its path. And its leaders are shadowy undead, wearing the cloaks of lost Guardians ... Mammoth fantasy on an epic scale - there are so many great fantasy authors around at the present time that it takes something mighty special to stand out from the crowd - and SHADOW GATE does just that. Imposing and truly epic. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

JIM BUTCHER: SMALL FAVOUR (Orbit HB) Harry Dresden's life finally seems to be calming down. The White Council's war with the vampiric Red Court has entered a period of detente, no one's tried to kill him in nearly a year, and the worst problem he's had lately is working out how to remove the stains his apprentice bungled into his carpeting. The future looks fairly bright. Unfortunately, the past isn't nearly as promising. An old bargain placed Harry in debt to Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe and the Queen of Air and Darkness. Harry still owes the Winter Queen of Faerie two favours, and it's time to pay one of them off. It's a small favour that he really can't refuse, but it will trap Harry between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, stretching his skills and loyalties to their very limits. It figures. Everything was going too well to last. Certainly the best of the vampire/faerie realm writers, with the added injection of noir. Stunningly good fun. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

ELIZABETH MOON: VICTORY CONDITIONS (Orbit PB) A vast and hostile force is attacking prosperous trade centres, destroying their space fleets then moving on, leaving death and chaos in their wake. Admiral Ky Vatta's family was decimated by one such attack and Turek, the pirate force's leader, will not escape her vengeance. Ky has a loyal taskforce, but the enemy have three times the ships and the firepower to match. She must offset these advantages with her knowledge of military strategy and her ace: superior ansible technology, facilitating fast and accurate in-space intelligence. The alternative to victory is unthinkable - devastation of interplanetary trading networks on a galaxy-wide scale - and the end of a way of life. Classic SF from probably the best female SF writer around today. I reviewed this a couple of months back, the US version - this is the UK Orbit paperback reprint. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Adam-Troy Castro: Emissaries from the Dead

(EOS PB) Two murders have occurred on One One One, an artificial ecosystem created by the universe's dominant AIs to house several engineered species, including a violent, sentient race of sloth-like creatures. Under order from the Diplomatic Corps, Counselor Andrea Cort has come to this cylinder world where an indentured human community hangs suspended high above a poisoned, acid atmosphere. Her assignment is to choose a suitable homicide suspect from among those who have sold their futures to escape existences even worse than this one. And no matter where the trail leads her she must do nothing to implicate the hosts, who hold the power to obliterate humankind in an instant. But Andrea Cort is not about to hold back in her hunt for a killer. For she has nothing to lose and harbors no love for her masters or fellow indentures. And she herself has felt the terrible exhilaration of taking life . . . . Modesty Blaise in an SF setting - terrific fun and excellently well-written. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Raymond E Feist: Into a Dark Realm

(EOS PB) The dread plot to destroy the Empire of Great Kesh has failed. The Conclave of Shadows has ended the murderous Nighthawk brotherhood's horrific reign of terror and death. But the mad sorcerer, Leso Varen, has fled, taking refuge among the most powerful men and women on Kelewan—a world now threatened, along with Midkemia, by hordes of the most vicious warriors in the known universe. The great sorcerer Pug knows of no power that will vanquish these invaders. And now he, brave Magnus and Nakor, and a disturbing young stranger named Bek must venture into the poisonous heart of the Dasati realm—the most terrible place they have ever encountered—in a valiant, impossible attempt to turn the tides against the encroaching doom that would swallow their world. Paperback edition of the first instalment of the Darkwar saga. Brilliant. Feist never disappoints. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Karen Traviss: Judge

(EOS PB) Even light-years and millions of miles away, Shan Frankland cannot escape her duty. For the wess'ar are going to Earth, to reclaim and save the ecology...whether humanity is willing or not. And they are accompanied by thousands of die-hard alien Skavu, who will stop at nothing to carry out their environmental crusade. For if the alien savior and ultimate parasite c'naatat gains a foothold among humanity, Earth will be destroyed completely. Did I just say Elizabeth Moon was the best female SF writer around? Take that back, it's an honour she shares with Ms Traviss. This is sensational. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

George R R Martin, Gardner Dozois & Daniel Abraham: Hunter's Run

(EOS HB) Like so many others, Ramón Espejo ran from the poverty and hopelessness of the Third World to the promise of a new world—joining a host of like-minded workers and dreamers aboard one of the great starships of the mysterious, repulsive Enye. But the life he found on the far-off planet of São Paulo was no better than the one he had abandoned. Tough, volatile, and angry—a luckless prospector hoping for that one rich strike that will make him wealthy—Ramón is content only when on his own out in the bush, far from the dirty, loud, bustling hive of humanity that he detests with sociopathic fervor. Then one night his rage and too much alcohol get the better of him, resulting in sudden bloodshed and a high-profile murder. Ramón is forced to flee into the wilderness for however long it will take for the furor to die down. Here, mercifully, almost happily alone, Ramón is once again free. But while searching for his long-elusive lode, he stumbles upon something completely unexpected: a highly advanced alien race in hiding; fugitives like himself on a world not their own. Suddenly in possession of a powerful, dangerous secret, Ramón must battle for his freedom from alien captors and also against the hostile and unpredictable planet. And so the chase begins. Police, fugitive aliens, and a human murderer weave a web of shifting alliances as Ramón enters the greatest manhunt the alien world of São Paulo has ever known. If he is to survive, Ramón must overcome inscrutable aliens and deadly predators, but his greatest enemy is himself. With every move in the desperate game, he struggles to outwit his enemies and solve the mystery of a murder he himself committed. A rip-roaring adventure tale and character study of a fascinating and twisted mind, Hunter's Run showcases three masters of the form at their best. I've never been that comfortable with writers sharing books. This one works, just, but you can tell when someone else has taken over the story, there's a subtle change in style. Great story, though. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Mario Acevedo: The Undead Kama Sutra

(EOS PB) Felix Gomez returned from the war in Iraq a changed man—once a soldier, now forever a vampire. So the undead underworld put his skills to work as a private detective, specializing in the sordid, the sexy, and the supernatural. After surviving aliens, nymphomaniacs, and x-rated bloodsuckers, it's high time for a vacation. Now the aliens are back in a fiendish conspiracy with the U.S. government, and only Felix stands between them and the Earth women they covet. But when an army hit man attacks Felix and the bodacious vampire sexpert, Carmen, not even the astonishing erotic powers of the Kama Sutra for the Undead may be able to save them. Pretty gruesome stuff, this. I hope they don't make a film of it! Not to be taken too seriously, and not for minors. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Terry PratchettL The Colour of Magic Omnibus

(Corgi PB) Twoflower was a tourist, thefirst ever seen on the Discworld. Tourist, Rincewind decided, meant idiot. Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place which might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. It plays by different rules. Certainly it refuses to succumb to the quaint notion that universes are ruled by pure logic and the harmony of numbers. But just because the Disc is different doesn't mean that some things don't stay the same. Its very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the arrival of the first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. But if the person charged with maintaining that survival in the face of robbers, mercenaries and, well, Death is a spectacularly inept wizard, a little logic might turn out to be a very good idea..."The Colour of Magic" is the first novel in Terry Pratchett's acclaimed Discworld series, which has become one of the most popular and celebrated sequences in English literature. Terry Pratchett has to be my least favourite fantasy author - I understand people either love his work or hate it. I don't hate it, I just don't bother with it, I'm afraid. I may be missing out on something, but Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Peter F Hamilton: The Dreaming Void

(Del Rey HB) At the centre of the Intersolar Commonwealthuniverse is a massive black hole. This Void is not a natural artefact. Inside there is a strange universe where the laws of physics are very different to those we know. It is slowly consuming the other stars of the galactic core - one day it will have devoured the entire galaxy. It's AD 4000, and a human has started to dream of the wonderful existence of the Void. He has a following of millions of believers. They now wish to Pilgrimage to the Void to live the life they have been shown. Other starfaring species fear their migration will cause the Void to expand again. They are prepared to stop the Pilgrimage fleet no matter what the cost. The Pilgrimage begins... Superbly crafted SF in the "space opera" tradition - spellbinding. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

David Bilsborough: A fire in the North

(Macmillan HB) This second volume picks up the ongoing story in a tunnel leading out of enchanted mountain realm of Eotunlandt. Fighting their way through subterranean dangers, Nibulus and his diminished retinue of 'questers' finally reach the open again, only to discover that their rivals the Thieves have mysteriously disappeared. Meanwhile, Gapp and a sinisterly altered Methuselech continue towards Wrythe, the last settlement. They find the population strangely degenerated, under the influence of a local leader, in fact the evil being Scathur who has been hiding there for five hundred years, awaiting his moment of vengeance.Scathur recognises that inside Methuselech is the outcast soul of a rival necromancer, Mauglad, so imprisons them both till they manage to flee for their lives. The rest of the original questers also turn up for a scary sojourn in Wrythe, before heading on to Melhus island with Scathur's deathly henchmen in pursuit. During strange dreams, the wanderer Bolldhe learns he must use a strange sword he has found to kill the evil demigod Drauglir, once and for all. They all venture into Melhus (the Underworld), contesting with the hosts of the dead sent against them. There ensues a colossal battle, with thrills and spills and monumental destruction, before the questers achieve an unexpected victory and most of them will return to Nordwas sadder but wiser.

Juliet Marillier: The Well of Shades

(Tor PB) Sent home to Ireland on a secret mission for King Bridei of Fortriu, Faolan must first deliver the news of a brave warrior's death. Unexpectedly, Bridei's chief assassin and spy also finds himself facing the demons of his family's dark past. By the time he tracks down the powerful Christian cleric who may be a threat to Bridei's pagan kingdom, Faolan has become responsible for a child, a dog and Eile, a troubled, volatile young woman. For Eile, the journey to Fortriu is confronting.Accustomed to a life of deprivation and struggle, she finds herself facing an unfamiliar world, full of new lessons. For her, the hardest challenge of all will be learning to trust. At Bridei's court in White Hill, disturbing news from the neighbouring kingdom of Circinn prompts the king to call his chieftains to council. But after the disappearance of Bridei's closest adviser and the tragic death of a young maid, the threat posed by the encroaching influence of Christianity appears to be the least of the dangers at hand ...

John Meaney: Bone Song

(ORION PB) Lieutenant Donal Connor has been given the most bizarre of new cases. Four famous stage performers have died in recent months, thee of them in state capitals within Transifica, the fourth in far Zurinam. And now the idolised Diva, maria deLivnova is coming to Tristopolis. Donal's boss is determined that nothing like this is ever to happen in his city. Connor is to have anything he needs as long the Diva lives. And so begins a dark investigation through a world where corpses give up their pyschic energy in the massive necrofulx generators that power the city, where gargoyles talk, where wraiths work in slavery, a world of the dead where corruption is alive. This is an extraordinary SF novel set in alternate universe quite unlike any imagined in SF before; a universe where magic and the supernatural and the undead are given a scientific rationale and hoorfyingly plausible rationale. The novel's setting, Tristopolis, is the ultimate noir city; an immense baroque creation of haunted stone skyscrapers, black metal and city-wide catacombs. Its hero Donal Connor is immensely likeable and easy to identify with. Even once he's dead. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

John Meaney: Dark Blood

(ORION HB) John Meaney's triumphant invention of gothic SF continues with his undead detective discovering a terrifying conspiracy against the living. Police officer Donal Riordan, killed and brought back to life with the heart of his undead lover beating in his chest, is getting used to a bizarre and frightening new existence. As one of the undead the living citizens of Tristopolis distrust and fear him. But death has its advantages. He can sense the presence, the thoughts the feelings of his fellow zombies, he is tireless, he can see better, hear more acutely. But none of this will necessarily save him as he begins to investigate who is behind a plot to ensorcel the entire population of Tristopolis. The plot goes right to the top and anyway who gets in the way will be killed again. And all the time the members of the Unity party are stoking the fires of hatred towards the undead. John Meaney's new series is a superb melding of the science fiction and horror genres and is perfectly timed for the resurgance of horror in the market.Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Joe Abercrombie: Last Argument of Kings

(Gollancz HB) "All in all it has been one of the most incredible, twisted, inventive and above all utterly enjoyable fantasy reading experiences I've had in a very, very long time . . . Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he knows how to tell a bloody good tale." THE WERTZONE; "Last Argument of Kings delivers exactly what this trilogy needed: a no-holds-barred war story in which secrets are exposed, mysteries are explained and the author resolutely refuses to pull any punches. The ending is superb, particularly the tremendously satisfying epilogue and the final scene. Last Argument of Kings is a more than worthy conclusion to this trilogy." SANDSTORM REVIEWS "The trilogy as a whole has crept gradually away from the standard fantasy template and gained a very unique feel. Having said this, for a book so different to Tolkien's, I'm going to make yet another Tolkien comparison - the aftermath and bittersweet ending has a very similar tone to the end of Lord of the Rings. each book in this trilogy has shown a distinct improvement, and with this fantastic concluding volume, I'd even go as far as to say it's become one of my favourite series." Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Mark Chadbourn: The Burning Man

(Gollancz HB) After a long journey across the ages, Jack Churchill has returned to the modern world, only to find it in the grip of a terrible, dark force. The population is unaware, mesmerised by the Mundane Spell that keeps them in thrall. With a small group of trusted allies, Jack sets out to find the two 'keys' that can shatter the spell. But the keys are people - one with the power of creation, one the power of destruction - and they are hidden somewhere among the world's billions. As the search fans out across the globe, ancient powers begin to stir. In the bleak North, in Egypt, in Greece, in all the Great Dominions, the old gods are returning to stake their claim. The odds appear insurmountable, the need desperate ...This is a time for heroes. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Adam Roberts: Swiftly

(Gollancz HB) It is 1848 and the British Empire has grown rich exploiting Lilliputian slaves - the finesse of their working allowing unheard of feats of minature engineering; even Babbage's computing device has been made to work. But now the French have formed a regiment of previously peaceful Brobdingnagian giants and invasion looms. In a world where humanity is both smaller and larger than it once was, love and hate loom large. Mankind discovers itself at the centre of scale. Lilliptians are twelve times smaller than us but there are those twelve times smaller than them, and twelve times smaller again and so on. And the scale of being goes up from Swift's giants also ...Adam Roberts has written both a rip roaring 19th century adventure, a love story and a thought-provoking pre-atomic SF novel about our place in the universe. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Alex Bell: The Ninth Circle

(Gollancz hb) This is The Bourne Identity ...as if Neil Gaiman had written it ...A man comes round on the floor of a shabby flat in the middle of Budapest. His head is glued to the floorboards with his own blood. There's a fortune in cash on the kitchen table. And he has no idea where, or who, he is. He can do extraordinary things - speak any number of languages fluently, go three days without food or sleep, and fight with extraordinary prowess. But without a name, without a past, he's isolated from the rest of the world; a stranger to everyone, including himself - until a chance encounter with a young scholar leads to his first friendship, and his first hint that someone out there knows more about him than he does. Someone is sending him clues about his past. Photographs hidden in books and crates of wine. Cryptic clues pointing towards a murdered woman. And clear warnings against Stephomi, his only friend. But that's not all; Gabriel Antaeus is seeing strange, impossible things: a burning man is stalking his dreams and haunting his mirrors, his dreams are filled with violence from the past, and his pregnant young neighbour is surrounded by an extraordinary golden aura.Something dark and violent in Gabriel's past is trying to resurface. And as he pieces the clues together, everything points towards an astounding war between angels and demons ...and a battle not just for the future of the world, but for the minds and souls of everyone in it. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Alastair Reynolds: House of Suns

(Gollancz HB) Six million years ago, at the very dawn of the starfaring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones: the shatterlings. Sent out into the galaxy, these shatterlings have stood aloof as they document the rise and fall of countless human empires. They meet every two hundred thousand years, to exchange news and memories of their travels with their siblings. Campion and Purslane are not only late for their thirty-second reunion, but they have brought along an amnesiac golden robot for a guest. But the wayward shatterlings get more than the scolding they expect: they face the discovery that someone has a very serious grudge against the Gentian line, and there is a very real possibility of traitors in their midst. The surviving shatterlings have to dodge exotic weapons while they regroup to try to solve the mystery of who is persecuting them, and why - before their ancient line is wiped out of existence, for ever. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Charlaine Harris: Definitely Dead

(Gollancz PB) Sookie doesn't have that many relations, so she hated to lose one p- but of all the people to do, she didn;t expect it to be her cousin Hadley, a consort of New Orleans' vampire queen - after all, Hadley was technically already dead. But she is gone, beyond recall, and she's left Sookie an inheritance - one that comes with a bit of a risk - not least because someone doesn't want Sookie digging too deep into Hadley's past - or her possessions. Sookie's life is once again on the line, and this time the suspects range from the rogue werres who reject Sookie as a friend of the pack to her first love, the vampire Bill. Sookie's got a lot to do if she's going to keep herself alive ...Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Alastair Reynolds: The Prefect

(Gollancz PB)Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a policeman of sorts, and one of the best. His force is Panoply, and his beat is the multi-faceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone. These days, his job is his life. A murderous attack against a Glitter Band habitat is nasty, but it looks to be an open-and-shut case - until Dreyfus starts looking under some stones that some very powerful people would really rather stayed unturned. What he uncovers is far more serious than mere gruesome murder: a covert takeover bid by a shadowy figure, Aurora (who may once have been human but certainly isn't now), who believes the people of the Glitter Band should no longer be in charge of their own destiny. Dreyfus discovers that to save something precious, you may have to destroy part of it. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Nick Griffiths: Dalek I Loved You

(Gollancz PB) Nick Griffiths watched his first Doctor Who aged four and a bit. He would have hidden behind the sofa but it was back against the wall and his parents didn't let him move furniture so he hid behind a cushion instead. He's since been told by his mum and dad that they didn't have a sofa only armchairs. So this book should really be called Behind the Armchair, but that didn't sound right. And so began a life long obsession. When Doctor Who started getting rubbish (after Tom Baker basically) he nearly escaped into the world of music and girls until he discovered someone selling tapes of old episodes in the small ads and that was that again. Only in the last few years has an anti-social obsession become something he can earn a living from as a journalist and happily this coincided with Doctor Who getting good again. Plus he has a son now so he can claim he's watching it for him. Oh and his son's called Dylan not Gallifray or Davros. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Carrie Vaughan: Kitty Goes to Washington

(Gollancz PB) Celebrity werewolf and late-night radio host Kitty Norville prefers to be heard and not seen, but when she's invited to testify at a Senate hearing on behalf of the country's supernaturals, her face gets plastered all over national TV. Before long Kitty's inherited a brand-new set of friends and enemies, including the vampire mistress of the city, an uber-hot Brazilian were-jaguar, and a Bible-thumping senator who plans to expose Kitty as the monster he truly believes her to be. Kitty quickly learns that in this city of dirty politicians and backstabbing pundits, everyone's itching for a fight - and she's about to be caught in the middle. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

Gateway is published by Paul Edmund Norman on the first day of each month. Hosting is by Flying Porcupine at www.flyingporcupine.com - and web design by Gateway. Submitting to Gateway: Basically, all you need do is e-mail it along and I'll consider it - it can be any length, if it's very long I'll serialise it, if it's medium-length I'll put it in as a novella, if it's a short story or a feature article it will go in as it comes. Payment is zero, I'm afraid, as I don't make any money from Gateway, I do it all for fun! For Advertising rates in Gateway please contact me at paulenorman@yahoo.co.uk Should you be kind enough to want to send me books to review, please contact me by e-mail and I will gladly forward you my home address. Meanwhile, here's how to contact me: paulenorman@yahoo.co.uk

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