Sly Mongoose is the third novel of Tobias Buckell. It is part of the same future history as its predecessors Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin, but it is a self-contained story that can be read on its own.

It has been decades since humanity rose up and overthrew their oppressors, the alien Satraps and their client races. Now, the 48 linked worlds of the former Benevolent Satrapy are fought over by humans, once the very bottom of society. The largest of these factions is the League of Human Affairs; once revolutionaries who led the way against the Satraps, they have themselves become the oppressors as they seek to unite humanity under their banner by force and subjugate or destroy the alien races who once served the oppressive Satrapy. Their chief opponents are an alliance of free peoples centered on the formerly lost human colony world of New Anegada. Caught in the middle is the human world of Chilo, a Venus-like planet in the neutral buffer zone between the League and Nanagada. Its people live in huge floating cities, held up by Chilo’s ultra-dense lower atmosphere.

The story begins with fourteen year-old Timas, an inhabitant of one of Chilo’s poorest cities, Yatapek. He is one of the xocoyotzin, boys who periodically descend to the burning surface of Chilo to maintain the automated mining machines that sustain the city’s economy- the impoverished city is stuck with pressure suits too small for Yatapekan adults. The vital role he plays allows his family to share in the life of the city’s upper class- until Timas grows too big, or dies in the blazing Hell he descends into over and over to keep the machines running.

His life is thrown into chaos when a strange visitor from space crashes into Yatapek after making a desperate escape from a dying ship. He is pursued by the Aeolians, Yatapek’s more prosperous neighbors, who say that he murdered an entire starship crew. The stranger himself, a man named Pepper, has an even more horrifying story to tell of the crew’s fate- a fate that may overtake all of Chilo.

Sly Mongoose is the best of Buckell’s novels to date. Buckell’s greatest strengths- fast-paced action and intriguing settings- are on full display. Timas is an interesting protagonist and a well-done portrayal of someone being overwhelmed by the demands placed on him.

The novel is in some ways a return to the style of Buckell’s debut Crystal Rain; the story focuses tightly on a single world and its inhabitants, rather than continuing the wide-scale scope of Ragamuffin. This works out well, since Chilo has more than enough points of interest.

The people of Yatapek are Azteca, who have previously appeared in Buckell’s universe only as antagonists. They have abandoned the rituals of human sacrifice forced on their ancestors by the alien Teotl and sought to make a fresh start. Buckell does a great job portraying their society- poverty desperate enough to drive them to send their children into the hazardous inferno of the surface, leaders terrified that the lower classes will revert to the bloodthirsty ways of their ancestors, the fear and tension of the families of the xocoyotzin who have been given a taste of a better life among the upper classes but know it could end at any time.

While the story is confined to Chilo, the reader does still learn a number of interesting things about the wider fictional universe, some hinted at in previous books and others completely new. The shared setting of Buckell’s three novels has become increasingly intriguing with each book.

The menace to Chilo is called the Swarm- a malignant group consciousness that spreads by infection and turns humans into mindless thralls. They are a very interesting take on the idea of the zombie- they have elements reminiscent of both the modern American movie zombie and the older Vodou concept, built on a science fictional rather than supernatural base. Buckell does a great job of taking something that had become a bit of a cliché and breathing new life into it.

Buckell’s talent for action scenes is well-demonstrated here, with everything from aerial warfare between dirigibles in Chilo’s skies to desperate mass battle with the relentless hordes of the Swarm. Pepper was a powerful presence in Buckell’s first two novels, but here he really comes into his own, and some of his later scenes are among the most thrilling I’ve read in a while. The action is fast and intense, and visceral without being off-puttingly gruesome.

Sly Mongoose is an outstanding book, and one I’d recommend to any science fiction fan. If you enjoyed Buckell’s previous books, or like stories with a well-realized setting and a lot of action, you won’t be disappointed.

Natural Ordermage is the 14th novel in Modesitt's best know series, the Recluce Saga. The Recluce Saga is somewhat unusual because it published well out of chronological order, with the first novel The Magic of Recluce being the second to last chronologically. The author insists they are to be read in order of publication and I agree with him. At least until you have read the series once. Another unusual aspect of this series is that is shows both sides of the conflict. Modesitt write from the point of view of both order and chaos wielders, elevating the series above the standard good versus evil story. Natural Ordermage and the immediate sequel Mage-Guard of Hamor are chronologically between Colors of Chaos and The Order War. Even if you do not wish to follow the publication order when reading this series Natural Ordermage is not a good point to enter. You'll quickly get confused in the history of the world and the conflict between order and chaos.

This conflict is the basic theme for all the Recluce novels. Although the origins of the conflict are shrouded in mystery the story seems to start about a century and a half before the events in Magi'i of Cyador, to date the first book chronologically with the founding of the chaos driven empire of Cyador, later to be balanced/oposed by order based nations such as Westwind and Recluse. Order and chaos are carefully balanced and cancel each other out when the free chaos and free order collide. The magic of Recluce seems to be inspired by a number of physical phenomena, one of the more obvious ones being the duality of light, but don't quite follow the rules of physics as we know them. Any use, or overuse in order results in more free chaos being available for those who are attuned to that kind of magic and vice versa. The balance ensures that the use of order or chaos must be carefully weighed against the consequences of upsetting the balance. Spectacular uses of either power usually results in an equally spectacular backlash.

Some six centuries have passed since the founding of the state of Recluce, a haven for those who follow order. It has become something of a power in the word, especially after the founding of Nylan as related in The Magical Engineer. A council mages carefully sees to it that those who show chaotic tendencies or who misuse order as exiled. Rahl is a young scrivener's apprentice who is very aware of the fact he has certain order talents. He is very careful to hide them so as not to attract the attention of the council wizards though. Still, he finds his talents useful in being more successful with the local girls and that is what gets him in trouble. He gets one of the young women he has his eyes on pregnant and her family demands they marry. Events soon start to turn heated and after a fight in which Rahl uses his order abilities to defend himself he finds himself facing the council. The verdict is exile to Nylan. In the port city of Recluce's engineers they handle order differently. Maybe he'll fit in there.

Rahl soon finds out that he cannot be taught to master his order abilities satisfactory at Nylan either. He is what the mages call a Natural Ordermage. His talents are intuitive, he can do things that takes other mages years of study to accomplish without really understanding what he is doing. This lack of understanding makes him unpredictable. The mages even consider him a danger to his surroundings. All efforts to teach him seem to be futile and after an incident involving a rather big explosion the rules of Nylan order his exile form the port city. He will be sent to Hamor.The powerful, continent spanning Hamorian empire has quite a different view on order and chaos. But again Rahl manages to get into serious trouble. This time it may cost him his life.

The Recluce series has had it's ups and downs, there's a couple of good books in this series and a few I didn't enjoy so much. After the 12th and 13th book in the series, Ordermaster and Wellspring of Chaos, both dealing with the Ordermage Karl, I thought Modesitt didn't have much more to add to his overall history of Recluce. He explored some continents we hadn't visited yet but Karl doesn't seem to have been involved in one of the defining moments in the history of Recluce. In this book we get a few interesting hints though.The story of Rahl seems to be connected to a comment made by the Ordermage Cassius in The Magic of Recluce (the same Cassius as in the story included in Viewpoints Critical). I'll have to read the next book to be sure but he appears to be referring to the same rebellion mentioned in Natural Ordermage. There are also some hint of a connection between Hamor and the ancient Cydoran empire toppled by Nylan in The Chaos Balance. Hamor is proving to be much more interesting than Nordla and Austra.

The main character of this book and the next, Modesitt has written a lot of the Recluce books in pairs, is somewhat unusual choice for Modesitt. Most of them are somewhat likeable. Not Rahl though, at the opening of the book he is the type that is too clever to lie but cannot to be trusted anyway. If your teenage daughter brought him home you'd try the cleaning-your-shotgun-while-having-a-nice-chat routine on him. If you let him in at all. Rahl grows throughout the novel though. As I mentioned above Rahl is very difficult to teach. He has to find things out for himself, usually the hard way. It shapes his character. I'm not sure if I like him at the end of Natural Ordermage but he certainly did grow up.

When I read the synopsis of Natural Ordermage a while ago I was a bit disappointed that Modesitt chose to write another Recluse book from the point of view of an Ordermage. Only four of the 15 books in the series are written from the chaos point of view. Which leaves a lot of the history of that side of magic unexplored. Both the founding of the White Order and that of Cyador remain a mystery for instance. I enjoyed the chaos books quite a lot so I had hoped Modesitt would add a chapter to those. That being said Natural Ordermage didn't disappoint me in the least. Unlike the previous two books, which gave me the impression Modesitt was done with the Recluce books, this book is a solid entry into the series. I can think of a number of Recluce novels I enjoyed more and it certainly doesn't contain any surprises in style, choice of subject or main character, it does add some interesting things to the overall story and sets us up for what could be a very interesting continuation of Rahl's story. Mage-Guard of Hamor has been released last month in hardcover. I will try to get it reviewed as soon as I get my hands on it.

Storms of Vengeance is the debut novel of John Beachem. It is the first book in his fantasy series, “The Lorradda Stone.”

The story is set in the Kingdom of Faranin, a state comprising many formerly independent nations brought together by centuries of war, now enjoying an uneasy peace for the first time in generations. Magic is forbidden, and those tainted with magical power, the Marked, are hunted and destroyed without mercy.

Faranin’s short-lived tranquility is shattered by a daring late-night raid on the capital city. A band of mysterious attackers, aided by magic, penetrate the vast complex of the royal palace and manage to get out alive. In the aftermath, a prominent legislator is found murdered in his chambers. He had many enemies who would have liked to see him out of the way, but what seems at first like a political killing is soon realized to be more. Witnesses reveal that while the assassination was taking place, some of the raiders were busy searching a completely different part of the palace. The speed and efficiency with which the mysterious raiders struck makes it clear that they knew exactly where to find their victim. So what else were they up to?

Into this mystery are thrust two young palace guards. Calton Relanas is a young man of peasant origins, eager to prove himself. His friend, Ratel Eresgot, is the scion of a wealthy aristocratic family who desperately wants to show that he can succeed without his powerful father. Assigned to assist with the investigation, they find themselves faced with a deadly conspiracy with tendrils reaching into the palace itself, and an evil with designs on far more than the life of a single politician.

I found Storms of Vengeance to be a frustrating book, because it keeps showing flashes of potential to be better than it was. After a successful attention-grabbing opening, things slow down badly, meandering dully for a number of chapters, punctuated by attempts at greater excitement that came across as forced. Then, about a third of the way through, things start to pick up, and I was fairly interested by the end. There’s some good stuff here, but it’s a bit of a slog to get to.

The characters are a mixed bag. The main protagonists, Calton and Ratel, were not effective for me, and seemed neither emotionally engaging nor otherwise interesting. Unfortunately, the reader spends a great deal of time with them. On the other hand, some of the antagonists are a good deal more interesting, though again there is a pacing problem: the reader must wade through some rather unsatisfying parts before these characters start to become more intriguing. I also liked the character of Faren, the commander of the palace guard who leads the investigation of the attack. Beachem does a nice job of taking a very boring, stick-in-the-mud sort of person and making him an interesting and sympathetic character. The brief appearances by the King of Faranin were also effective, defying the common clichés for fictional monarchs- heroic guardian of the people, ruthless tyrant and oppressor, or ineffectual buffoon. Instead, he comes across as a well-intentioned man who is just unbearably tired, ground down by a lifetime of crushing responsibility.

The setting is more or less a typical medieval fantasy kingdom; for the most part it is serviceable but not remarkable. It does have one prominent virtue, however. I greatly enjoyed the book’s portrayal of elves- or “forest demons,” as most people in Faranin call them. In an enjoyable break with the common fantasy clichés that have turned elves into little more than pretty long-lived humans with a fondness for trees and shrubbery, Beachem’s elves truly seem uncanny and inhuman, frightening and inscrutable creatures of folklore.

Overall, I would describe Storms of Vengeance as a disappointment. Beachem shows a number of flashes of potential, but the reader must put up with a good deal of much less interesting material to get to them. I think his work shows future promise, and I’m curious to see how Beachem develops, but overall I can’t recommend Storms of Vengeance.

Australia is referred to as a ‘New World' country with respect to its wine production. This distinction is made with the traditional European nations being referred to as ‘Old World'. Jacobs Creek, one of Australia’s leading wineries, defines ‘New World’ wines as “innovative, easy to understand, accessible and generous in flavor”. There is far less pretention to be found in New World wines than the traditional versions, and as such, Australian wines have gained a world-wide reputation for originality and value for money. In many ways, a strong parallel can be drawn to the large number of Australian fantasy authors currently producing high quality and innovative works. Many of these writers are not well known outside of their home country, but they are gradually gaining exposure in the mainstream marketplaces of the USA and England. One of the most talented of these Australian authors is Jennifer Fallon.

Fallon is an interesting character in her own right, being the ninth child in a family of 13 girls. She lives in the Northern Territory, which contains some of the most isolated and remote places in the world. Fallon has three children of her own, but has also fostered over 50 other youngsters in need. Her writing commenced, as with all good authors, through submitting a Mills and Boon manuscript. Thankfully for the world of literature, this book was rejected and Fallon has gone onto a successful career in fantasy. Fallon’s first novel was 'Medalon', the opening novel in the six piece “Hythrun Chronicles”. She then wrote the “Wolfblade Trilogy”, with both series being very well received in Australia and overseas. Fallon’s latest work is “The Tide Lords”, which commences with 'The Immortal Prince'.

Fallon introduces the reader to a new world in 'The Immortal Prince', with the story commencing in the duchy of Glaebe. The main character of the book, Arkady Desean, is in a position of security being married to Stellan, the Duke of Glaeba. She has, however, a life and experiences prior to her marriage that are not traditionally expected of someone marrying into high society. Her childhood originated in near poverty, and then progressed to history studies at a doctoral level. And it is as an academic that Arkady is brought in to interview a convicted criminal called Cayal who, mysteriously, failed to die whilst being hanged. From this point, the story unfolds.

The author manages to successfully sketch out the background and history of this new country, but at the same time, does so without falling into the trap of inundating the reader with massive passages of descriptive text. Fallon uses the interviews between Arkady and Cayal as a mechanism for revealing the details of the world. As a literary device, it works very well. New characters such as the Royal Spymaster Declan Hawkes, and the Crasii, a mix of half-human half animal slaves, are also introduced and add significantly to the flow of the story.

The underlying magical premise is quite innovative, being based around the concept of a group of Immortals who possess near god-like powers. This magical skill is contingent upon ‘the Tide’, a force that ebbs and flows over thousands of years. When the Tide is out, the Immortals are largely powerless. However, when the Tide returns, the Immortals have the ability to literally destroy or re-make the world. At the start of the book the Tide is out, however, it soon becomes clear that change is underway.

One of the strengths of 'The Immortal Prince', and yet also its weakness, is the prose. Fallon demonstrates her great skill in writing interesting and well developed characters, however, at times the story almost got lost in overly decorative language. Some readers will delight in this aspect of the book, but I must admit that at times I found it a little grating. It is only a minor criticism, but I almost felt that the plot took second place to the prose in certain sections of the book. It is not a significant fault in any way, and some readers will particularly enjoy her style. It must also be said that Arkady is occasionally quite irritating as the main personality, but Cayal and the rest of the cast are consistently well portrayed. As a means of comparison, Fallon's writing is far closer to that of a Robin Hobb or perhaps Greg Keyes than someone like Steven Erikson.

Whilst much of the story is reasonably predictable, Fallon does manage to maintain the intrigue right to the end of the book. There are a number of twists in the plot that are unexpected, and underline her skill as a storyteller of the highest quality. These surprises are logical and consistent within the larger plot, but were still not easily foreseen. Fallon also manages to finish the book off at a suitable point. Whilst it is clearly set up for the remainder of the series, it still ends without leaving the reader completely up in the air. I intensely dislike books that are not complete in their own right, and Fallon has successfully managed to avoid this error.

There are few authors that I automatically buy their latest offerings without even perusing the back cover. Fallon has become one of this group. Her books are consistently well written, with great plots and exceptionally well developed characters. Fallon is not just a very good Australian fantasy writer, she is simply a very good fantasy writer. 'The Immortal Prince' is highly recommended to all fans of the genre. Book Two of the Tide Lords, 'Gods of Amyrantha', and Book Three, 'The Palace of Impossible Dreams', are also now available.

While all opinions of value on a singular subject reflect personal observation - either shared or so penetrating or whimsical to claim true originality - it is something that is thought that needs to be controlled, reigned in for the purposes of achieving a balance of that and a degree of the impossibility of objectivity I believe in those words but choose to and admit that they will not apply here. This will not be a search of highs and lows, the critical eye here is misty in rare satisfaction witnessing a moment of medium-perfection, where sensibly and creativity combine to create modern classics. I and many speak highly of contemporary super hero-based books like Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Miracleman, Planetary, Miracleman, Robinson‘s Starman, and what we find are reactions - indeed reactions as quick and sharp that cause the counters to look as if they occurred - should have occurred - before the first blow, but still reactions. Even something like DC’s Identity Crisis or Morrison’s run on X-Men were/are new platforms by any definition, are built on the brick of retort. This is not a review, nor a retort. This is a letter…

The modern blueprint for team books - with respects to the Challengers of the Unknown - is Lee and Kirby’s Fantastic Four. Why is this? The introduction of storylines that were as much about family as it was fighting crime, and at the beginning we were given explorers, more than just scientist exposed to powers, but explorers of the world we all traverse. Later, after a couple of tries, the X-Men would successfully add the angst of fitting in and prejudice from multiple sides. The creative teams of both of these books would influence the generation afterwards (indeed Byrne was influenced by the Fantastic Four only to extend the same shadow after he helmed the title himself) again in response, and that generation though armed with guns larger than torsos that carried easily the burden of seemingly thousands of pockets in which a multitude of ammunition could be stored for use - many were misses.

The first page of Harbinger #1 is a splash page, the backdrop is mundane: a traffic jam, trees, a helicopter hovering above, this is the real world, the world that you and I live in, a chaotic world but to a degree we have been able to account for with some sense of false order in our minds - in our world oddities occur, even atrocities and comics in this era would attempt to remind us of these grim elements to attempt to parallel our experiences, but on the first page Harbinger goes a different route, it attempts to instill something so fundamental the word alone was a title of a comic in out industry’s Golden Age, we have multiple characters: boys, girls, canines, even animated twins, that carried the name, and if anything it is what drew us to famous lines like, "look up in the sky, it’s…". Harbinger, in a time when pubescent and fanciful definitions of grit being passed off as realism were prevalent, appealed to our lost sense, the one that is unique to us - our wonder. From the first page we are thrown into a already fluid story, we are both going somewhere and know that something has already occurred, a bit of a microcosm of the VALIANT Universe that plays all across its own time-line while being linear and occurring in real time, our wonder is not isolated in the now or the future but is in concert with the what has been the initial mystery in just meeting someone who naturally has a past, life does not begin in these initial pages. Above that aforementioned prosaic backdrop and in the direction of the unseen fingers pointing from the ground, a car is flying - and we know immediately we are a part of a story that will touch on places with roads we know and stories that have no use for them.

The title ‘Harbinger’ relates to a couple of aspects, one is the simple decision and two is that those called Harbingers that embody the former. Essentially, Harbingers were the next turn for humanity, beings of some diverse powers, though for the most part the abilities were dormant. It is also the name of the foundation that will serve as the adversary in the title and the VALIANT universe as a whole - thus it is rather unique in that is a comic that could be construed as being named after the antagonists and the fact illustrates the duality of the story if one ever wishes to go beyond the adventures of super-powered teenagers trying to do right while being pursued by a corporation of similar beings who are chasing them. In many ways, the second generation of VALIANT’s line was Peter Stanchek’s story (though there is something to be said about the meta-frame that was Solar) and that of his family. His first family are the group we follow within Harbinger: The Beginning a hardcover released in 2007 by VALIANT Entertainment that reprints issue 0-7 that featured the creative team of Jim Shooter and Dave Lapham. In these pages you will be introduced to family, you will experience the growth of that family, and you will suffer from a loss in that family as we meet a group of kids who had enough troubles finding themselves to begin with. The Harbinger part of VALIANT universe is rather simple in that corporation that recognizes people of ability searches them and collect them to train them in their ability in order to pave the way to a better world that humanity has or will squander. The Harbinger Corporation was founded and is led by one Toyo Harada who in several ways is one the most powerful people on the planet - a statement he makes around the ‘other two’ and none seem inclined to correct him - as his foundation is an economic power and more importantly that he is an Omega Harbinger. Harbingers to this point have come into their power only by their potential being unlocked or activated by an Omega Harbingers. Omega Harbingers are those able to use their abilities by their own will without need of an ‘activation’ and upon finding another like him - Peter Stanchek - it becomes his mission to bring him into the fold. Going back to the duality of the title and how it can be applied, Harada himself is at times a character one can empathize with and in the issues Shooter goes out of his way to illustrate that he and his followers nor only believe they are doing the right thing - but also compares them to the actions of Peter and his friends in a manner that makes the readers view the Harbinger kids as ‘kids’ involved in a rather petty rebellion and not seeing the big picture and on several occasions they arrive to further their ‘goals’ at inopportune times when Harada is indeed trying to handle important matters (like saving the life of a member of his organization). You see the distinction brought into full effect when the character Solar arrives - a real Superhero - and indeed points it out to Peter and the reader. The reason why Harada wants Peter dead is not out of jealousy but he deems him to uncontrolled and a danger and what you get in this title are two powerful individuals who think they are the correct answer but on different level, it’s just that one knows, or rather thinks he knows what the answer implies beyond the question. Harada is affective because in truth he’s consistory the most reasonable, lucid and rational figure in the title.

The Harbinger kids themselves are a motley band even if familiar archetypes. Pete - aka Sting - the de facto leader, like Harada is one of the most potent individuals on the plant - an Omega Harbinger he has at his disposal psionic abilities that are only rivaled by Harada and his abilities are vast and growing. Faith - aka Zephyr - is one of those quirk that gives the title a unique element. It’s not that her ability is to fly - it’s that she is a tubby kid, a bit of an oddity in an era where all female superheroes had a likely fallback as models. body builders, or porn stars. Charlene - aka Flamingo - is basically the human Torch and the aforementioned likely future adult star. Kris, who is not a harbinger, but play the role of non-powered foil and also becomes the catalyst of VALIANT legacy characters and John Torkelson - aka Torque - who is the strong guy of the group whose rendering (by Lapham) really brings us back to faith and all the characters. Lapham drew these characters and made them look like kids, like people which played into the bigger desire for VALIANT to be and look like the world that is or could be outside of your window. You get a bit of a Claremont-type feel where you just sense multiple plot lines being developed for later fruition - or not - and half the fun is the knowledge of exploring those further but yet you never are taken away from what is a story about teenagers with powers - the plot moves, things, happen and like all VALIANT titles they ripple into other books.

If there is an issue for today’s reader concerning Harbinger: The Beginning it is that the dialogue dates itself and not just with particular references to things like Nintendo, but in that it at times doesn’t just forward the story but attempt to aid the art to describe what is occurring as a narrative which seems odd not only due to current readers just don’t need or prefer that anymore as the age - and hopefully comprehension - increases but also because even at this point in his career Lapham is able to tell sequential storytelling without the crutch but you feel what seems to be a Shooter mandate of being very easy assimilation of what is occurring. One would hope and suspect in the event of future incarnation that this will be eliminated but at least for myself it served as what may be the last top shelf example of the way superhero stories used to be told - a reflection of the ‘80s MARVEL sensibility brought over by Shooter when he was their Editor-in-Chief for a number of years, but I don’t back-away from the idea that nostalgia plays a role in that, one that isn’t particularly relevant. I do want to point to point out what seems to be an often repeated saying: “there were Image kids and VALIANT kids, you go to Image for the art and if you want well written you go to VALIANT“. Not even to point some quality titles that had and would come out of IMAGE - this is a statement that I find to be fundamentally incredulous. Who were some people that contributed art to VALIANT? Barry Windsor Smith, Dave Lapham, Frank Miller, Steve Ditko, Bob Layton, Walter Simonson, Joe Quesada, and Tom Mandrake - just to name a few. To continue my previous thought however, it does strike a rather unique balance of having layered storylines both within single titles and as a line and it creates a story complexity and dram without being neither avant-garde or my least favorite adjective to describe fiction - ‘gritty’. It recognizes ideals exist but certainly does not use that as mold and while there is redemption, there are also permanent prices to pay. This is where the zero issues come to play and while I fully understand the choice of leading off these hardcovers with them, I think they lose a certain nuance - albeit only if you are familiar with the original reading experience - of their power. I think in many ways this order tends to take away from the message the first page of Harbinger#1 offers and I think this applies for any VALIANT title and their zero issue. To be able to go back and see where Pete came from - to see a darkness to him that is not at all abnormal, but is deviant - acting on hormones and issues of control someone his age would have causes one to be able to cast the story they just read in another light. And in my mind simply adds to the story in a manner that it doesn’t when they lead-off the hardcovers. In an interview we see Shooter thought much the same (at least at that time)

"Too many times, especially in comic books, you get the feeling the characters
are just hanging around waiting for the story to start. Like they were
doing absolutely nothing before this story started and they have no
other reason for being than being bitten by the radioactive water
buffalo so they can go charging around butting into trucks. So I tried
to give the sense that stuff had gone on before. I wanted to try to
get people interested in the characters, and also to take through the
building of the team. So maybe I didn't do it very well...my motives
were good.

And people have asked "well why didn't you do issue #0 as issue #1?"
Because issue #0 is really intensive to one character, to Sting. And
I felt that if that were the first issue, it wouldn't be until the
third issue or so that they'd really be a team. No, let me start
further down the pike, and come back and fill that in. I mean, isn't
that how people really are? If you meet someone, you know what's going
on NOW, and sometime later, in a bar or something you're sitting there
talking and you find out how they got that way. I mean I've done it
both ways. I've started with the origin and moved on, and I've started
in the middle. The goal is to make these characters come alive and be
as real to everyone as they are to us. There's probably a lot of ways
to get there."

Given that, for myself these early Harbinger issues represent a point where the last time a throw-back superhero team book was arguably the best (superhero) book on the market and it dwells in and may be the sole representative of the transition from 1980’s MARVEL storytelling and what would we would now call modern storytelling employed by people like Johns and Bendis in books pointed at the mainstream comic reader and in some ways represent the best of both world while carrying some baggage from the former and less refinement of the latter that may actually (as noted above) a refinement of the reader and for this achieves a charming quality but not to the depths where it has to become a guilty pleasure.

The new material in the collection is The Origin of Harada and is new material written by Shooter and penciled by Bob Hall. It is a rather effective ending to a collection in some way speaks to the zero issue being used first as using the two Omega’s as bookends to a presentation. This is essentially the first new real VALAINT material in over a decade and by real VALIANT, this reviewer means VALIANT through Unity and perhaps a year beyond with some titles - as one simply can’t deny Barry Windsor Smith’s Archer and Armstrong which was post Unity - and was simply a striking 8 page story that is a no frills yet haunting eight pager that has relevance to readers old and new. and like the first page of the first issue, Shooter again gets it - stories are based on questions and what’s revealed contradicts information in this very review and also reinforces what is probably Shooter’s original vision of Harada that may have been deviated from when he was ousted from the company.

Harbinger: The Beginning is a story of life evolved, not of the day after, two days - these are the children of the eight day, of this world as sure as those of the sixth day but like those they would have to succeed and suffer through a world that’s evolution not only was represented by them, but hinged on them. To call Harbinger the X-Men of VALIANT has some accuracy to it on the surface even to the point that their arch-nemesis , Magneto, is also an antagonist that has the quality of being reasonable and both deal with a group who may represent the next step in evolution but they are also much like the VALIANT’s Fantastic Four, in that they are our first family and where titles like Solar, Magnus and Rai set the stage and were top shelf stories in their own right and served as our introduction to a new line and world to explore, it was Harbinger that turned visitors and tourist into inhabitants - it was the ground we needed to settle on while we watched stories of far future invasions and when spectators became participants. To this day VALIANT fans may at times visit Gotham or look up at New York City skylines and catch a glimpse of a webslinger, but we do so reading from the comfort of our home, where wonder still stirs - where faith can fly.

Dear me,

This was a love letter.

Jay Tomio
The Bodhisattva

Midnight Never Come is a historical fantasy, set in Elizabethan England and seasoned with a goodly portion of faerie lore. It is the third fantasy novel from the hand of Marie Brennan (pen name of Bryn Neuenschwander) and her first foray into this particular subgenre of fantasy and historical fiction.

England 1590. Queen Elizabeth is at the height of her power – she reigns supreme as the Virgin Queen, the threat of the Spanish armada has been averted, and the literary and dramatic arts are flourishing. Like so many other Renaissance courts, Elizabeth’s court is not only place of ostentatious display but also a tangled web of political intrigue and aristocratic patronage. Into these dangerous waters enters Michael Deven, a young gentleman of no fortune, as he is enrolled in the Queen’s elite bodyguard, The Gentlemen Pensioners. With ambitions of advancement Michael seeks an aristocratic patron and thus becomes embroiled in the covert operations of Sir Francis Walsingham, the Queen’s Spymaster. Walsingham has long suspected the presence of a “hidden” player in English politics and he chooses Michael to flush him or her out in the open. This assignment takes him into dangerous waters and radically revaluates his perception of the world. For Elizabeth is not the only queen in England, she has a dark double – Invidiana, the Queen of Faerie and the ruler of the Onyx Court, the shadow court that exists beneath the streets of London as a dark mirror of Elizabeth’s royal court.

Invidiana established her sovereignty of Faerie at the same time as Elizabeth ascended to the throne of England, and since then fae and mortal politics have become dangerously and deeply intertwined, often through the faerie queen’s manipulations of both fae and mortal agents. One of these is the faerie Lady Lune, who is sent to monitor Sir Francis Walsingham. Out of favour with the mistress of the Onyx Court, Lune crosses the path of Michael Deven, and together they start unravelling the secrets of two sovereigns in the hope of finding the source of Invidana’s power and break it.

With Midnight Never Come Marie Brennan has composed a very well-structured and tightly plotted novel. The story is intriguing and I found its twists hard to predict thus increasing the suspense factor. Brennan also experiments a bit with the novel’s structure: The main narrative, which takes place in 1590 alternates between Lune’s and Michael Deven’s POV. However, the chronology is broken up as Brennan intersperses flashbacks that illuminate the extent of Invidiana’s interferences in mortal politics. Brennan has furthermore structured the narrative like a play; five acts with prologue and epilogue. Each act is introduced with a short chapter and these are perhaps the most experimental aspects of the novel. Written like as stream of consciousness of indeterminate POV, these sections contains important clues to main narrative. In effect, the novel as a whole creates a rather pleasing reading experience, puzzling out the different fragments of the plot.

The structure is one of the novels strong points. Another is the basic premise of the plot: the idea of Elizabeth and Invidiana as mirrors of each other. This idea of mirroring or doubling was actually quite prominent in Tudor thinking – a fact that Brennan, who holds a degree in anthropology from Harvard, must have come across during the large amount of research, which is necessary for a piece of historical fiction. The Tudor conception of kingship was in several instances, fx legal practice, formulated in terms of doubling, i.e. what the historian Ernst Kantorowicz dubbed “The King’s Two Bodies”, which crudely put, is the distinction between the office and person of the king or queen. The metaphor of the double was especially widespread during Elizabeth’s reign, seeping into the arts where the Virgin Queen was praised through thinly veiled alter egos in poems and plays. Edmund Spenser’s famous epic poem The Faerie Queen (1590-96) was in fact written as an allegory of praise for Elizabeth. In this poem, Gloriana, the Queen of Faerie, serves as on of several alter egos for the Virgin Queen.

As this very short historical overview suggests, Midnight Never Come rests on a very solid foundation of historical sensibility. Brennan has obviously done a lot of research (her research bibliography can be found at her website, www.swantower.com/marie) and for the most part he use of historical detail is for the most part impeccable. She gets her facts right, and besides a few heavy-handed instances (fx Walsingham engaging Deven in a Socratic dialogue about the intrigues surrounding Mary Queen of Scots by means of a chess analogy) manages to seamlessly work the historical exposition into the narrative. But what I find most impressive is the fact that Brennan has delved into the Elizabethan mindset itself for the basic premise of her story. She utilises ideas and element that were prominent in the historical period she portrays as supporting structure of the narrative. Throughout the novel, Invidiana functions as Elizabeth’s dark mirror on several different levels. As Elizabeth ages, Invidiana stays eternally young; mirroring the fact that throughout her long life Elizabeth was never portrayed as an ageing woman, in her portraits she was ever young. Invidiana is also Elizabeth dark double as regards politics and psychology as Brennan ascribes the crueler, capricious and ruthless aspects of Elizabethan politics to the shadow queen of the Onyx Court. Using Elizabeth and Invidiana as mirror images is, as mentioned earlier, one of my favourite aspects of the novel, but I can’t help to feel that Brennan didn’t exploit this facet enough. While the faerie queen has a palpable presence in the story, Queen Elizabeth is far more elusive. Though part of the story unfolds in a place that revolves around her person, Elizabeth is for the most part curiously absent from the tale. She skirts the periphery of the narrative, and I feel that Brennan would have been able to delve deeper into the aspect of doubling and mirroring if she had given Elizabeth herself more space in the story. As it is, Brennan's novel constructs an intriguing and complex set-up that sadly is never really filled out.

In many respects, Midnight Never Come can be likened to a teenage supermodel. Great bone structure, but no curves! Marie Brennan has laid a solid foundation of historical detail and built a great structure rooted in Elizabethan imagery, but she never really manages to fill her ornate edifice with life. Her prose is pedestrian at best and rather awkward when she attempts to work in period expression in the dialogue. The characters are mainly functional; shallow constructions that serves the plot but never really comes to life. As in the case of the characters, Brennan never really manages to infuse a semblance of life into her world, both Elizabethan and Faerie. The novel is rather low on description, which is too bad because Brennan has constructed a complex plot on the basis of a rather intriguing premise. A more thorough attention to detail (sensuous, psychological, etc.) would have added an extra layer of mimesis and characterization which could have given this narrative more depth, adding to its appeal. Midnight Never Come is an enjoyable experience, well-structured, suspenseful and with a slightly eerie feel. I was, however, slightly frustrated with the flaws since the premise has so much more potential than the finished product.

Steven Chase was invited to the Meadow under the pretense of seeing one of the only remaining DeBain houses in the country. For him it was a passion for architecture; for Caroleigh it was a move towards seduction. Kari, who is Caroleigh's reclusive sister, seems upset with all of the company and immediately asks how long the entourage will stay. Much to her chagrin they ignore her and plan tours, parties, and visits. Edward and Evelyn accompany the group to the farm and find themselves tangled in family drama.

After a brief accident with a set of stairs Steven is left alone and in trouble deep in the woods. Kari saves his life in an interesting way which infuriates her sister. Strange things start to happen all over the grounds of the Meadow. Accusations are thrown by all, including the local sheriff, Dell. The townspeople know the true Kari but Caroleigh has everyone else convinced that her sister is simple and not to be listened to. A long-standing argument stands between these two sisters. Kari, Steven, Caroleigh, and Edward must all come together to figure out what's going on and who's trying to get to them.

Larion Wills develops an imaginable setting here which includes ghost stories, old gold mines, and past grudges. Kari's character is described in detail from her quirks to her physical looks. We aren't given a lot of background about Steven, Evelyn or Caroleigh until the latter part of the story and none about Edward. There are a few slow spots in the story but it all comes together in the end. Readers will sigh during the last two chapters- as this is when the whole story comes together. Ghosts are an integral part of the story and they added a dash of interesting to an already wonderful read.

I will freely admit I only picked up Sanderson's works to see who was the man that would finish Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I had noticed his books before but they didn't appeal to me enough to buy one. When I did read his first novel Elantris a while ago I found I don't quite agree with Justin's opinion of the novel. Elantris was entertaining but certainly didn't break any new ground. The writing showed some flaws as well. After reading it I though Sanderson would have to raise the level to please Jordan's readers. I must admit that Sanderson had made some progress since Elantris. Mistborn does not, as Tor, claims turn the genre upside down, but it is a good read none the less. I promise to shut up about Jordan from this point on. It would not be fair to Sanderson to look at this book only in the light of how good a job he will do finishing A Memory of Light. Even if that is what made me pick Mistborn: The Final Empire up in the first place.

Mistborn is set in a world that has been ruled for the last thousand years by a despotic god-like creature known as the Lord Ruler. He has gained power and founded the Final Empire in an event known as the Ascension, a final confrontation between good and evil with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. This event has since faded to legend but it is quite clear the good guys didn't win. The world is a dark place, the ash veiled sun barely gives enough light to sustain a the perpetually brown-leafed vegetation. At night a mist envelopes the world and the creatures that roam through it are said to be ruthless killers. Most of the population is enslaved and works at the edge of starvation to sustain a small group of nobles, who in turn are suffered by the Lord Rules as long as they provide him with enough taxes and services. This small elite keeps in power mostly though the use of allomancy, the magic of the Mistborns. By burning certain metals they enhance certain physical attributes, making them more dangerous and more powerful than ordinary people. Not that displays of power have been necessary lately. Dissidents and rebels have long since been slaughtered, there is but one religion left, the worship of the Lord Ruler. Life is cheap under the Lord Ruler's tyranny. The world is not a nice place to live in.

Not quite everybody is willing to accept the way of the world though. Kelsier is a man with a dark past, a man who has lost at the hands of the Lord Ruler. His wife, his freedom and almost his life. Yet an act of love and self-sacrifice has changed his outlook on life. He has done the impossible and escaped from the pit he was supposed to die in. Kelsier refused to let hope die. Several years on he is using his considerable allomantic powers to help a fledgling rebellion achieve a position from which they can strike at the Lord Ruler. The task is complicated, the risk enormous but Kelsier beliefs it can be done. A belief strengthened by him finding Vin. A young girl destined for a life of poverty among the capital's thieves and beggars. Without knowing what she is doing she has discovered her allomantic powers and uses them to help her gang or thieves be more successful. Unfortunately that talent draws unwanted attention. Before the authorities can get their hands on Vin though Kelsier snatches her away from her miserable life and trains her. Without realizing it, Vin turns into an essential part of their operation, the element that may be decisive in their attempt to overthrow the Lord Ruler's Regime.

Like in Elantris Sanderson introduces a fairly rigid system of magic. It has clear rules but parts of it seem to be missing. I enjoyed this aspect of the novel quite a lot but you do have to remember to forget your chemistry lessons as soon as you open the book. If not you'll probably end up in the following train of thought. The power of an allomancer depends on "burning" small bits of various metals they have ingested. Some of the metals they ingest are toxic, certainly in large quantities over longer periods of time. Allomancers don't suffer ill effect though, if they burn off the excess metal in their stomach. This seems like a violation of the law of conversation of mass to me, unless you apply special relativity. Maybe they have invented cold fission ;) He also doesn't explain why allomancers are not chronically anaemic. And, since I have put suspension of disbelieve overboard altogether in this paragraph, why use a non existing metal? The periodic table is full of them, it doesn't seem necessary. I have been reading too much hard SF lately I guess but as you can see there is something to be said for keeping your magical systems deliberately vague. Much easier to suspend disbelief that way. Without getting any further into the mechanics of this magic, the rules he sets up are clear and consistently used throughout the book. Magic does not provide a deus ex machina ending in this book.

I thought Sanderson's characterization has improved a bit too compared to Elantris. Vin in particular is a well rounded character. She is obviously talented, but also inexperienced and naive at the right moment. Sanderson walks a fine line with her but he manages to keep her from appearing to be superhuman. Her childhood was far from pleasant and she shows scars that only slowly fade. Certainly a fitting heroine for this story. What the book misses is a point of view of one of the villains though. We get to see the entire story from the point of view of those who try to overthrow the empire, the motivation of the bad guys themselves remains unclear. Although at the end it becomes obvious that this is something Sanderson will deal with in the remaining two books in this trilogy. In a way it is a shame he didn't incorporate some of it in this book, it is what keeps Mistborn: The Final Empire from being a good stand alone fantasy. Then again, that was not what Sanderson was aiming for.

As I mentioned before Tor presents this as a fantasy novel that turns the genre upside down. That's nonsense. Evil empires fall left and right in modern fantasy so presumably they must rise at some point as well. This first Mistborn novel is not a ground breaking fantasy, it will not change the genre or draw in lots of new readers. For those comfortably with the genre and looking for a good fantasy novel this book would not be a bad choice though. It is not particularly challenging but certainly well written and Sanderson leaves a number of interesting questions unanswered for the next book in the series. This, combined with the fact that Sanderson delivers a better book than his début novel made me decide to read the next one as well. Mistborn: the Final Empire is a good start to what promises to be a solid fantasy trilogy. I will be reviewing Mistborn: the Well of Ascension next month.

P.S.

Sanderson is one of the authors who have fully embraced the internet. For those who are interested in more background material on this novel he provides chapter by chapter annotations on his website. Personally I wouldn't recommend getting into those before reading the novel but the author does very carefully avoid spoilers to future chapters.

Virgin comics has attempted to revive the character Dan Dare. In issue five of the comic, Dare confronts the evil Mekon. Mostly, this issue is a bridger for the story arc. Dan Dare has been captured and brought before the Mekon and the Prime Minister attempting to bargin with the alien.

Revivals usually involve a reinterpretation of a nostalgia character. Dan Dare, however, is left in all his perfect, stilted 1950's glory, which could be played for comic effect. Instead, the comic has stayed in the 1950s, right along with Dare. It feels as stale and dated as a bag of Lays potato chips that's been open and forgotten in the back of a cabinet for at least a year. His dialog is, of course, every bit as perfect as his manners. He is polite and unyieldingly drawn towards always doing the right thing. Readers know that, in the end, Dan Dare is good personified and that he will always triumph, no matter how sticky any situation gets.

The world, though, has (to quote Steven King's "Dark Tower") moved on, and comics have matured, as have the readers. "Dan Dare" reads more as adventure fluff with a very black and white view of the world. The bad guys are bad, the good guys are good, and cheaters never win. Many readers require more complex characters and far more complex worldviews.

So, was "Dan Dare" unreadable? Hardly. While personally, I did not find the issue to be a good read, that may have been largely due to the fact that I have not read the previous issues (and the Free Comic Book Day preview was hardly adequate to offer enough storyline to help decipher issue #5). I can see the appeal to fans of campy adventure-based sci-fi serials like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. This comic also serves as a very comforting nostalgia piece, as it is a dependable, predictable storyline.

"Dan Dare" does benefit from a great art team. The coloring and inking for the book are superb and the artwork itself is far beyond typical artwork from the 50s. Virgin has spared no expense for good paper and quality printing, which I'm sure hard-core fans will definitely appreciate.

While I, personally, did not enjoy "Dan Dare" the quality of the comic has encouraged me to look into other books Virgin Comics offers which seem as though they will be a far better fit for my sensibilities. I would recommend "Dan Dare" for anyone who might be searching for a kinder, gentler, much more likeable Indiana Jones.

"Elephantmen: War Toys #3" is the final issue in a three-issue arc. It reads well as a single, stand-alone issue and, like all the other "Elephantmen" materi that I have read covers highly complex philosophical and ethical issues under the guise of a violent, pessimistic science-fiction odessy. While previous graphic novels have focused mainly on the difficulties the repurposed elephantmen face as they are forced to integrate with human society, "War Toys" focuses on what the Elephantmen were before, namely tools of a world war being waged by China and Africa.

Elephantmen are soldiers created through genetic manipulation to incorporate the DNA of both humans and animals. They are trained, from birth, to be ruthless, obediant, primal killers. They are larger than humans and stronger than humans and rely far more on their instincts. An elephantman (though this is a misnomer, as they not only resemble bipedal elephants, they also come in the forms of hippopautomi, crocodiles, and warthogs) given the order to kill the enemy does so without thought to whether the enemy is a man, woman, or child. They are effective, effecient, and brutal.

The horrors of war become magnified as elephantmen, ordered from the MAPPO corporation by Africa, invade Europe to enact genocide on a population already decimated by a virus. This issue takes place in France and Norway. A lone French woman named Yvette has decided to take on the elephantmen to avenge what has happened to her family, her friends, and her country. She becomes as brutal and every bit as accomplished as the elephantmen themselves. The issue culminates with a climactic confrontation between an elephantman and Yvette.

This is not a happy story. It was never intended to make the audience feel good. Instead, the goal seems to be to encourage people to think about what really happens in wars and in genocides and to assess whether they feel that the actual, human cost of war is really worth it. Elephantmen does not give concrete answers (though there is a fairly obvious slant towards a negative answer), nor does it offer a neatly wrapped package of proscribed ethics. Instead, the reader is offered a very compelling story with characters who truly seem to have no other choices than the paths that they have taken and no other logical endpoint than what is offered in the story. Elephantmen could disintegrate into a messy, didactic parpable that hammers a point home until the reader ends up angry, frustrated, and feeling more than a little gypped. Instead, the writers weave pathos, emotion, and moral dilemma into a skillful story that leaves the reader wishing that there was more. Fortunately, this is a comic book series, which allows for more story and character development.

Unlike previous volumes, this issue is printed in a lush grayscale with a hazy, pencil-shaded look that indicates (this is speculation on the part of the reviewer who only had this issue in the arc) a flashback. This is not to indicate that the artwork has less of a gritty feel or is less detailed. Rather, the quality of linework and shading in this issue is every bit as good as any other issue I've seen in the series. The simple removal of color simply indicates that this is a different type of story and visually draws the reader to the conclusion that these are memories, but they are very important memories.

"War Toys" is a book that I would recommend for adult readers who want a serious storyline that transends comic stereotypes. This, as with many war stories, is graphic and vicious, though not necessarily explicit. It is violent and frank which is in no way diminished by the black and white printing.

The first book of the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds and his début novel. It's also the first book I have read by this author and I must say I am impressed. Not that the book is flawless but there is a lot of potential here. I understand the author was still working at the European Space Agency when he wrote this novel, before giving up his job to pursue a full time writing career. Not surprisingly Revelation Space is hard science fiction on a grand scale. Not light reading but once you get into the story definitely rewarding.

Set in the 26th century mankind has escaped the solar system and settled many planets. Despite scientific theories that claim the opposite they find the galaxy relatively empty of intelligent life, apart from the remains of societies that were destroyed ages ago. One man who is interested in this apparent lack of life is archaeologist Dan Sylvestre, leader of an expedition to the now lifeless planet of Resurgam. Resurgam was once home to the Amarantin, a species that appeared to be on the brink of archiving space flight. They were destroyed in what archaeologists now call "the event", a cataclysm that took place almost a million years ago. Sylvestre is dead set on finding out what caused their extinction, in fact, he believes that such knowledge is necessary to ensure the survival of humanity.

Unfortunately for Sylvestre not everybody agrees with him. After decades on the inhospitable planet there are those who want to terraform the planet and give up the search for the Amarantin secrets. They stage a successful coup and Sylvestre spends much of the next decade in prison. Unfortunately for him his problems don't end there. He seems to have made quite a few enemies along the way and some of them are now hunting for him.

Ilia Volyova is one of the hunters. She is an ultranaut on the lighthugger Nostalgia for Infinity, one of the great spaceships that travel between the inhabited systems in the galaxy at speeds slightly below the speed of light. The Ultra's rarely go down to a planet and spend a lot of their time in reefersleep, a kind of cryogenic preservation of their body. The ships captain is a centuries old Ultra who's body barely contains living flesh. He is mostly cybernetic. Sylvestre's father has saved him some decades ago from death but now he is infected with the melding plague and nothing seems to be able to stop the disease from spreading. Ilia is determined to find Sylvestre to save her captain.

Apart from a dying captain the lighthugger has other problems. Their gunnery officer has gone insane and Ilia has had to kill him. He needs to be replaced. When the lighthugger visits Yellowstone, Sylvestre's last known location, another of Sylvestre's hunters, a mysterious character referred to as the Mademoiselle, uses this opportunity to place the assassin Ana Khouri on board. Posing as gunnery officer Ana's real mission is to kill Sylveste, no matter the cost.

It took me an awful long time to figure this out but one of the important themes in this novel is the Fermi paradox, a proposition by Enrico Fermi who wondered why if the conditions for intelligent life to evolve must be common we still haven't found any signs of it. Reynolds solves the paradox by introducing a force than suppresses the evolution of space faring civilizations. It is a pure coincidence of course but I recently read 2001: A Space Odyssey in which Arthur C. Clarke does just the opposite, an alien intelligence tries to steer evolution towards intelligent life in those books. From a scientific point of view Reynolds' approach probably makes more sense.

As I said, this book has potential but it also has flaw. Especially early in the book it is a chore to keep the time frame of the various story lines straight. Travel faster than the speed of light has not been invented (it seems Reynolds is with Einstein on this one) so the journey of Ilia and Ana starts several decades before the storyline of Sylvestre to enable them to cross the vast distance between Yellowstone and Resurgam. Reynolds mentions a date in the chapter title but since he changes point of view in his chapters frequently those are not always a good guide.

A bigger problem with the book is that Reynolds takes an awful lot of time to get to the point. He takes his time describing the settings (Chasm City looks intriguing by the way), detail the history of the galaxy and of course elaborate of various astronomical phenomena the characters encounter. In the end all three of our main characters are being manipulated by others but he reveals it ever so slowly, which results in a lot of explaining at the end of the novel. I wouldn't call the final chapters of the book disappointing but the way he wraps the story up is not flawless. Another minor irritation is that especially towards the end of the book all characters become increasingly cynical. It leads to some awkward dialogue, especially Sylvestre's wife Pascale suffers from this.

Definitely room for improvement but in the end this book is well worth reading. It is a book that requires some patience though. It takes a while for the pieces to fall into place. So sit back end enjoy the ride. Reynolds certainly adds enough interesting sights to the book to keep the reader entertained. His professional background clearly shows, I very much liked his descriptions of star systems. I also liked the central theme of this book, once it became clear to me. All in all a good début for Reynolds. I may be tempted to dig into Redemption Ark in the near future.

This is not a children’s story. Marketed as a companion piece to HDM, this short piece is rife with sophisticated themes and adult language, along with an elegant sarcasm that operates well from an adult perspective. No prior experience with the author’s famed series is necessary to enjoy this stand-alone tale of an accidental aeronaut and an outlaw talking bear. Readers familiar with the relationship between Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison will be engaged by this explanation of their first adventure together, and those without such a background will be intrigued enough to read future developments surrounding the pair.
When Scoresby finds himself a stranger in a city on the verge of a hostile political and business takeover, he stumbles headfirst into conflict, with the armored bear at his side. Scoresby has a habit of chasing trouble, if one considers the snappy remarks of his rabbit daemon, Hester, who consistently harasses him in good humor. His concern with honor, which he denies – “I don’t think too much about honor” – seems the primary motivation for these conflicts. He finds himself drawn to others with this interest, including Miss Victoria Lund, a librarian and fellow boarder. When Lund surprises him by asking his advice about a difficult personal situation, he quickly deduces the heart of the matter.
“This is about honor, ain’t it.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Hard thing to get right.”
His consideration of the upset young lady is unexpectedly rewarded at the end of the story, as is his commitment to leave the townsfolk in a better position than he found them. He expects no return on this investment, but the appreciation of certain citizens leads to assistance in his safe escape.
The author clearly holds a distaste for big business and uses the story to promote this message, but his platform does not take center stage from the fast paced adventure and valuable friendship born within these pages. Neither do the charming engravings by John Lawrence, which echo his work in Lyra’s Oxford. What does detract is the unfortunate miscellanea from Scoresby’s volume on aerial navigation; a bill of lading as described in the story; instructions to ‘Peril of the Pole,’ a board game included in a pocket inside the back cover that is “too exciting for children under 5 years of age;" a leaf from a shipping world yearbook with a description of the town, Novy Odense; a newspaper article regarding the final events in the story; two letters from Lyra regarding her dissertation; and the certificate for her dissertation, which is a study of trade pattern development with an emphasis on independent cargo balloon carriage. These, like the intrusive materials in Lyra’s Oxford, are annoying. Readers of HDM will make the obvious connection between Lyra’s work and Scoresby’s activities, but like Lyra and the Birds, the story stands better on its own.
The audio adaptation proves a two hour and 17 minute mess of the author’s narration, which is often too fast, and various actors who unintentionally make a mockery of this sharp story. “Overdramatic” does not quite cover the lengths to which the accents and emotions are carried. Unlike Lyra’s Oxford, which employs several actors but remains primarily in the talented hands of Jo Wyatt, this version falls short of the written word.

As a short story companion to the author’s His Dark Materials trilogy, this attractive volume offers a diverting look at Lyra two years after the events in The Amber Spyglass. The majority of the book is devoted to the telling of Lyra and the Birds, which outlines a dangerous situation in which Lyra must decide who she can trust. Her decisions are always vital, not only to her own safety but to that of others. Readers of the trilogy will recognize the responsibility Lyra carries on her adolescent shoulders as a standard of her young life, forced upon her and held with good intent but not always with the best judgment, as one might expect from a teenager. When a witch threatens a scholar in whom Lyra has developed an interest, she rushes to help, but her impetuousness blinds her to alternative possibilities and consequences.

This red cloth bound package is graced with detailed engravings by John Lawrence but marred by extraneous material that is annoying rather than enhancing. A preface with instruction on connections between these materials falls into this category as well. The “things” to which it refers, including a map of Oxford, glued to a page about a third of the way through the story; a picture postcard from Oxford, with a note written by Mary (presumably Dr. Malone of HDM) to a former companion at the convent; a page on the history of Oxford; and a brochure for a cruise on the Imperial Orient Shipping Line in London, with the arrival in Smyrna on Monday, May 11 circled and marked “Café Antalya, Suleiman Square, 11 a.m.” clutter and interrupt the story.

This is one for HDM readers of all ages, but would not appeal to those unfamiliar with the preceding titles. Lyra’s past plays a critical role in her choices and reactions in Lyra and the Birds. There are many references made to incidents, characters, and relationships necessary to Lyra’s experience in this short story that would alienate readers who do not have this frame of reference.

The audio book, which runs short and sweet at 45 minutes, is primarily narrated by Jo Wyatt. Wyatt, who plays the excited teenage girl very convincingly in adaptations of Libba Bray’s A Great and Terrible Beauty and Meg Cabot’s Avalon High, follows her portrayal of Lyra in HDM with an appropriate range of expression, from eagerness to self-doubt, for the spontaneous and open girl readers have followed since 1995. The CD comes with a slightly smaller copy of the map that is included with the book, but it is tucked neatly out of the way and as such, not an issue.

Tracy Hickman Presents: The Anvil of Time is a new DragonLance trilogy. Book one is The Sellsword, by Cam Banks.

The prologue of the story introduces us to the mysterious Journeyman. He is tasked with using the Anvil of Time to watch history but not to interfere. Our tale then begins 71 years earlier. The War of the Lance has ended but all is not roses in the land of Nordmaar. Highmaster Rivven Cairn, disciple of Emperor Ariakas himself, and her Red Wing of the dragonarmies still rule these lands.

Our central character is Vanderjack. We know he’s the central character because he is mentioned in the first sentence of every chapter of the novel except two. I don’t say that as a criticism. It was obviously done intentionally. Vanderjack is a sellsword. He’s The Sellsword. At the beginning of the story he’s low on coin and seemingly cursed with a haunted sword, the magical Lifecleaver given to him by his mother.

But circumstances find Vanderjack. He’s a man of action and he’s always in the middle of things. Thus, it became something of a matter of intrigue to see what he was going to be in the middle of at the start of a chapter. It wasn’t uncommon for Vanderjack to be surrounded. When he DIDN’T lead off the chapter, that break in the pattern was significant as well.

The Sellsword finds himself in the employ of a noble who wants him to recover something of great value to him. Vanderjack’s plans begin to go awry when he has to take the Baron’s assistant with him. Things become more complicated when they are joined by the gnome warrior and inventor (like all gnomes are) Theodenes, a former adventuring companion of Vanderjack’s. Things went sour the last time they saw each other though, and Theodenes had a score to settle.

After Vanderjack, Gredchen the Baron’s assistant, and Theodenes set off, things got more and more complicated as the group came under attack in their travels, and made enemies. When one makes an enemy of a dragon Highlord, things become more complicated indeed. Vanderjack also learned that the job he was doing wasn’t exactly what he’d thought. However, the need to settle some scores, some old and some new, continued to drive The Sellsword, as his assignment become more than just doing the work and collecting the money.

Through it all, Vanderjack was a sarcastic, trash talking “action hero”, who had a one-liner for every occasion. The dialogue was not classic fantasy. It featured back and forth banter between adventuring companions, between heroes and villains, and between villains. That term is rapid-fire dialogue and I enjoyed it here. Personally it reminded me of the way our characters interacted in my years of playing D&D, rather than the more formal and stylish manner of speaking from The Lord of the Rings.

I could easily imagine Vanderjack saying “Yipee-Ki-Ay Mu…” ahem…you know the rest, Bruce Willis style as he cleaves into a draconian with Lifecleaver. I ate it up, I admit. I loved Vanderjack. He is a very different type character than what I’m used to reading in DragonLance. He’s a man of questionable morality, as much interested in profit as anything else. However, in the spirit of DragonLance, some people are destined for greater things. Sometimes they just need a nudge in the right direction. While this was a bit of a grittier DragonLance, it didn’t turn the principles of the franchise on their ear.

At first I wondered how interesting a gnome character could be. But I liked Theo. His character worked very well with Vanderjack. I did wonder at times exactly why the gnome would travel with his old sellsword companion given how badly their last encounter ended. Don’t think Cam Banks left a plot hole in there. He left some mystery and intrigue in the story, and held some cards up his sleeve until the very end.

Our interesting heroes also had interesting villains to play off of, the determined Highlord and the devious Dark Robed Mage. No, not THAT Dark Robed Mage, but another one.

It appears that book two of the series is not going to focus on Vanderjack. That’s unfortunate, but never say never I suppose. There is a thread that links the books though. That would be the Journeyman. We got a little bit of a flavor of him in book one. Enough to be intriguing. I expect that we’ll learn even more as other authors pick up the series

I will admit that I had some doubts coming into this book. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman ARE DragonLance. Every one of their books that I’ve read have been gold. Once other authors began writing books in the series, they definitely became hit or miss.

Cam Banks definitely hit with The Sellsword however. I learned that Banks has been a managing editor with Margaret Weis Productions. So in a manner of speaking The Sellsword was kept “in the family”. That’s a good thing.

The plot was fast paced and action packed. However it wasn’t a one-dimensional creampuff either. Maybe not as deep and layered (yet?) as the original DragonLance Chronicles, but it was no slouch. I enjoyed how every chapter began with a “Vanderjack moment”. That made me laugh. I got a good chuckle out of the fact that one of the major cities is named “Wulfgar”. I appreciate a good tip of the cap to R.A. Salvatore, being a fan of his work as well.

If I have a complaint it’s that the book was too short. It came in at 307 pages. Give us a bit more of Vanderjack cracking jokes and putting on a cocky façade in the face of danger. We got sword battles, aerial battles, gladiatorial arenas, magic and more, all packed into 307 pages of an “action movie story” Give us 400 pages, and give us even more I say.. Or maybe the plan was to leave them wanting more.

I’m going to give The Sellsword by Cam Banks a very solid 7.5 stars. I hope we haven’t seen the last of The Sellsword. I also want to see how these events play into the events in the other two books. I certainly hope the other two books are published, given the state of affairs, or lack thereof, with the DragonLance license and Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

Irish author John Connolly is perhaps best known for his crime stories that hover on the edges between traditional detective stories and supernatural horror, but with The Book of Lost Things, Connolly travels deeper into fantasy-land, reinventing age-old fairy tales in a beautiful and poignant story of childhood and loss.

Set in England during the beginning of World War II, The Book of Lost Things is the sto