The Court of the Air is the debut novel of English writer Stephen Hunt, and it falls within the category of steampunk, although the novel constitutes a rather eclectic mix of disparate elements that only occasionally come together in a meaningful whole.

The story of The Court of the Air primarily takes place in the kingdom of Jackals, a country that simultaneously is and is not very alike to late 19th century England, if you can imagine an England where Cromwell’s Commonwealth never fell, and where political symbolism is taken quite literally. Thus the Jackals king only has one function, as a symbol of a monarchy shackled by parliamentary democracy. Hence, the king has his arms surgically removed and is paraded around with a metal gag. While the primary reference is Victorian England and steam-driven technology, Hunt also builds his world from an eclectic mix of sentient robots, faerie magic, communist-like revolutionaries, the underground remains of a lost civilization, a Buddhist inspired religion as well as forgotten insect gods worshipped in bloody rites of human sacrifice reminiscent of the Aztecs.

Hunt’s novel is a story about a world poised on the brink of an apocalypse and of two orphans, each with an inborn power to avert the oncoming catastrophe. Molly Templar has grown up in a city orphanage like so many other unwanted children, but when she escapes a brutal murderer in the brothel she has recently been apprenticed to, only to find all her fellow orphans slaughtered, she begins to suspect that someone is committing considerable resources to have her killed. She teams up with a journalist, a retired naval commander and a couple of steammen, sentient robots, in order to escape her pursuers and find out why they want her dead.

Oliver Brooks lost both his parents in a flying accident as a young child. Touched by the inhuman powers of the feymist curtain, he has led a severely circumscribed existence with his uncle in a provincial backwater. His world is suddenly turned upside-down when he finds his uncle and his entire household murdered and himself framed for their deaths. He consequently finds himself on the run from the law together with Harry Stave, a shady friend of his uncle and an agent of the Court of the Air, the mysterious hidden power behind the Jackelian state.

I found The Court of the Air a somewhat frustrating reading experience, mainly because it starts out quite interesting and proceeds to build suspense very well throughout the first 2/3s of the novel. But when we get to point where Molly and Oliver find the answers to why they are hunted, the narrative careens out of control. Molly and Oliver learn that they have inborn abilities that can stop the re-emergence of an ancient evil, but Hunt seems to have had trouble with coming up with a plausible and organic solution to his narrative. Instead he relies heavily on the device of deus ex machina, endowing his hero and heroine with superhuman magical powers that they learn to wield quite suddenly and effortlessly to the detriment of characterization. They simply become less interesting as characters because it is very difficult for the reader to identify with them. Furthermore, it becomes increasingly difficult to uphold the suspension of disbelief that fantasy depends on when the main characters without any significant explanation drastically change from frightened children to competent wielders of superhuman powers. Another of the novels weak points is the way that the narrative derails the plotline about the Court of the Air, the secret police that resides in an airborne fortress of dirigibles. For the better part of the novel, it appears that it is the Court of the Air that seeks the lives of Molly and Oliver, but this plotline is shunted aside about the same time as the children begin to use their suddenly endowed powers, a development that certainly made me wonder why the novel was titled The Court of the Air in the first place.

Though Hunt’s debut has some very serious weaknesses, it also has some strong points. The best part is without doubt his descriptions of the steam-driven technology, which reaches a pinnacle in his invention of the steammen as a sentient race of robots with their own state, culture and religion. This is perhaps the single most original aspect of the novel, and it is worth a read. I also quite liked the Victorian atmosphere of Jackals and Hunt’s use of period slang adds flavour and reality to his creation. These strengths do not, however, balance out the weak points, which is why I have such mixed feelings about this novel.

With The Court of the Air Stephen Hunt demonstrates an abundantly fertile imagination. It is, however, in need of a little pruning in order to make for a more satisfying fantasy novel. It will be interesting to see how he fares with his next offering, The Kingdom Beyond the Waves, also set in the world of Jackals.

Star Trek has always been known for throwing plenty of backstory out there in passing in its episodes, to pave the way for an hour of television. That backstory is then largely forgotten in future episodes since the majority of Star Trek’s run on television has involved stand-alone episodes. That leaves plenty of fertile ground for authors to fill in, which would certainly be a reason why Star Trek tie-in novels are as prolific as they are.

Star Trek Terok Nor tells the story of the occupation of Bajor by the Cardassians. Star Trek: The Next Generation first brought us the story of Bajor in a few of its later season episodes. It then became one of the main storylines of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The very final episode of the show showed us an ending of the story. Day of the Vipers by James Swallow shows us the beginning of the story. Terok Nor, as we learned on Deep Space Nine, was the Cardassians name for the space station when it was under their control. At this point however, the space station that would become the crown jewel of Cardassia’s occupation of Bajor, and later Deep Space Nine, is only a distant dream.

The novel stretches over a ten-year period, from the first Cardassian vessel traveling to make first contact with the Bajorans, all the way through the days immediately following the beginning of the occupation.

Given the timeframe of the novel most of the characters that we meet are new original characters for this story. However a young Dukat, before he becomes the Gul Dukat who is a recurring character all throughout the run of Deep Space Nine, is one of the central characters of the book. In the beginning he is the first officer of the first vessel to visit Bajor. We then watch him move up in the ranks and in power and influence throughout the novel. More importantly to a good story we learn WHY he is driven to move up in the ranks and to make it his mission to see Bajor under Cardassian rule. There is more to the story than simply waking up in the morning, deciding to hop into a spaceship and make a trip at warp speed to begin a long and complex campaign to take over the world of another civilization.

Make no mistake about it, the Cardassians are the villains of the story. But like good villains that aren’t one-dimensional they have motivations for behaving as they do. It is not evil for evil’s sake. In their minds they are entirely justified in doing what they do. Cardassia is a very resource poor world with a population that scrapes by to provide the essentials. In Bajor, they see a world that has a bounty of resources that they under-appreciate to the point of being wasteful. In Cardassian eyes they are lazy, undisciplined, and underachieving as a society and need a “firm Cardassian rule in order to make something of themselves.

Within the overall cultural motivations we have a variety of personal motivations ranging from the desire to best serve Cardassia, to personal ambitions of wealth and power, to motivations of religious faith. On the other side of the coin Cardassia was able to exploit a number of Bajoran motivations as well. Bajor didn’t willingly cede its world over to an alien race. There were segments of their society that welcomes an alliance for a variety of reasons, some personal and some societal. All of these sub-plots swirl beneath the main plot, the one we know from being Star Trek fans, and come together in the climax, in a number of surprising ways. While the end result is anticipated, the events along the way are quite surprising at times.

James Swallow wrote a very complex story and had a very good grasp of all the characters. He gave us a very good cross section of both Bajoran and Cardassian societies, from religious clerics, to politicians and their political power grabs, to career soldiers, to secret operatives, and maybe especially of Mace Darrah. Darrah is a Bajorian Militiaman who is determined to uphold his duty and serve his people as a lawman even as his society and his marriage crumble around him. While Dukat is the central villain of the story, Mace Darrah is the central hero. Given the nature of the story he was never going to have a totally heroic victory in this book. But he did get a nice little personal victory. Perhaps the stage is set for him to make a heroic comeback against all odds. But maybe he will suffer a heroic and tragic death to set the stage for the rise of other resistance fighters, such as Kira Nerys. According to her backstory she is born about 15 years after the end of this book. One would presume that she will factor into the next book based on the timeline, and the fact that she’s on the cover of the next book. Heroes inspire other heroes, so perhaps Mace Darrah will become Kira’s role model. We will see.

Throughout the story kept moving at a fast pace, even as it got more and more complex with the addition of conspiracies and even conspiracies within conspiracies. The story was well managed and was extremely plausible.

Another thing I liked was that not only was the story not Federation-centric but it didn’t cast the Federation in a particularly favorable light. They are not eager to get involved, for reasons from their point of view that are strategically plausible. It’s easy to understand Bajor’s later distrust of the Federation. It goes to show that the Federation isn’t always a bunch of Boy Scouts. Their policies are sometimes dictated by politics and other concerns just as any real organization would be. So while we had plenty of Star Trek science fiction in this story, it also maintained a strong grip on plausible reality. I thought this was a good story that just happened to be told in the Star Trek universe.

My biggest concern coming into “Day of the Vipers” would be whether or not I would care about all the new characters that we would see in the story, especially since the majority of them will probably be ground beneath the wheels of time as the series progresses over a period of about 52 years from beginning to end. For the most part these are forerunners to the characters that are “near and dear. But thankfully Swallow did not create Jar Jar Binks and gave us characters that add to the richness of the Star Trek universe, not characters that are best forgotten. Day of the Vipers was an outstanding beginning of the trilogy. We’ll see if the authors who will be concluding the series give us as compelling of a story. I rate Day of the Vipers as a 7.5.

Captain Kirk’s Guide to Women is written by John “Bones” Rodriguez, who is admitted Star Trek fan. It takes a Star Trek fan to write this book and a Star Trek fan to appreciate it. The subtitle of the book on the first page is “How to Romance Any Woman In the Galaxy”. Obviously this book is meant to be tongue-in-cheek and does not take itself too seriously. Nor should its reader. Nor its reviewer. So I fully intended to cut this book some slack. I am a Star Trek fan so I expected to enjoy this book in the spirit that it was intended.

I went into the book expecting humor. It did deliver a bit. In general though it wasn’t terribly funny. It also tried to be somewhat serious and be something of a self help book for Star Trek fans who I suppose are futile with the fairer sex. The message preached through the example of James T. Kirk’s captainly exploits, partially on the bridge of the Enterprise but mostly as they directly related to his many female encounters, is to be confident, goal oriented, and “boldly go” with regards to women. The poor alternative is to be passive, or nondescript background dressing like a Red Shirt. They tend to die quickly and so will your relationships I guess.

That’s a pretty good message. But a self-help or motivational book is probably going to need a bit more example and build up of the reader’s confidence than merely entries on all of the women that Captain Kirk encountered throughout the series. While these entries tried to incorporate humor using episode-centric in-jokes, it didn’t really work and the entries looked more like something out of a baseball reference book. Except this subject matter does not really lend itself to that.

So I got a laugh or two out of Captain Kirk’s Guide To Women, but not as many as I’d expected. So it didn’t find its niche as a funny or satirical book. I also saw the positive messages that he filled the book with. But if I needed relationship help I think Relationships For Dummies would probably be a more comprehensive help book. Thus, it also doesn’t find a niche as a motivational book.

What it is is a quirky book. I can’t even call it a must have book for Trekkies. If you’re one of those who desperately wants to know the entire list of 21 women who Kirk had involvement with during the series, as well as the actresses who portrayed them, this book might be for you. If you just can’t live with not having a Star Trek book on your bookshelf, at least this one comes in at 84 pages so it doesn’t take up much room at all, and it’s a quick read.

I didn’t have tremendous high expectations for Captain Kirk’s Guide To Women. I expected a light hearted quick and easy read that would give me some laughter. I don’t see how the classic 0-10 scale really applies in this case. I couldn’t in any good conscience give this more than a 5 being more of a novelty or gimmick book. I would have given credit where it was due, but I think I’ve done enough reviews to know what a 9 or a 10 is to me. 85 pages of this type of material just couldn’t reach that level But I don’t think it hit its desired target especially well so I really think that a 1 on my scale applies. There was no “enjoyment”. Without a high level of humor it was just a quick 80 page reference book of Captain Kirk’s conquests. If I was going to heartily enjoy a Star Trek reference book there would be other topics I would go for if I was going to pull one off the shelf.

I’m sorry Captain Kirk’s Guide to Women, but like Captain Kirk’s relationships themselves you are brief, shallow, and quickly forgotten.

Bitterwood by James Maxey is on its surface a fantasy tale of dragons versus humans. Our titular character is Bitterwood. Notice his name is not Mellowwood. He is not a laid back easygoing man. Dragons have ruined his like and he’s….bitter. Bitterwood has vowed not to rest until he has hunted and killed every dragon in the world. Despite their power and their position of rulership over humans in the world, the name Bitterwood still inspires fear, as he is a man with nothing to lose with the expertise and will to kill dragons. That is his only ambition in life, and his motivation is born from personal vengeance not the cause of humanity as a whole.

Humans being oppressed by dragons, and an anti-hero obsessed with delivering vengeance despite overwhelming odds are pretty standard s for a fantasy story. The biggest question would be whether Bitterwood could bring a twist to the story to rise above the average

Bitterwood did not take long to toss out the first morsel when a Southern Style fire and brimstone preacher comes to a village preaching the salvation of God. Blessed with inhuman strength and endurance he seems to be the very messenger of God. That’s certainly unexpected in a dragon ruled world of fantasy, and it’s a spark that kickstarts the story from the get-go.

As we progress through the story, in the presence and in flashback, I feared for awhile that the story would turn into a complicated story of political intrigue and powerplay within the court of the dragon king Albekizan. Instead individual characters moved back to the forefront to give me someone to latch onto as I read the story. Personally if I’m going to read a story high on the political intrigue, it had better be written by Robert Jordan or George R.R. Martin. Even Jordan’s plots became so complex and intertwined that I began to get lost in the intricacies as The Wheel of Time got deep into the series. So I was beginning to get nervous as we saw the interplay between the King’s sons, his royal mage, his royal biologens, and his insane, murderous brother.

King Albekizan was determined to exterminate the human race in revenge for the death of his favorite son. Many in his inner circle disagreed with this plan, and even desired to overthrow him and bring forth a new age for the race of dragons. Most of the motivations here had nothing to do with altruism, but rather personal agendas.

The book then moved some characters to the forefront and provided some sympathetic characters through which to tell the story. That allayed any concerns that I had and got the story flowing again after it had been in danger of stagnating a bit.

We learn that there is much more to this world and to the story than what had previously been apparent. As more twists are parceled out, Bitterwood becomes more of a fantasy/science fiction story.

I liked that part of the story evolution a lot, and became more and more engrossed in the story as it went along. While these more science fiction elements were intriguing to me and added to the story in the way that they were incorporated they didn’t affect the overall world, nor have any bearing on the war that was brewing between dragons and humans. If those elements are to be used to their full potential we would need to see them expanded in the additional books of the Dragon Age series.

It was these elements that added the unpredictable into a story that was predicable on the larger scale. The story gave us unexpected alliances, secret plans, betrayal, daring escapes, and heroic victory against overwhelming odds. There’s our basic scoop of chocolate ice cream. It’s good. The science fiction that James Maxey sprinkles into his recipe are the fudge chunks. They make it better.

When I say science fiction don’t expect spaceships streaking through the sky unloading arsenals of laser weapons. Things are handled more subtly and expertly than that, and I thought that it provided the gem of the story. The backstory of Bitterwood, and his character development that was intertwined into the story was more interesting than the character in the present day portions of the story. He’s definitely a flawed hero, if he can even be called a hero. Perhaps he will blossom in future books but he wasn’t the most interesting character in the story, or even the second most interesting. Bitterwood is not a hero. He’s just a man with a grudge, a lot of arrows, and a knack for using them to kill dragons. Many of our science fiction pieces swirl around Bitterwood though, so his story is still of interest within the novel. He does also begin to show signs of wanting some purpose in his life other than to kill dragons. I suppose that’s a classic portion of the journey of a hero, so I don’t believe that Bitterwood will end up taking a backseat in the novel or series named after him, even if that happened to an extent in this book.

I’ll be interested to see who the central character ends up being. Jandra, the 16 year old human apprentice to a dragon mage would be my candidate and was my favorite character in the story.

I give Bitterwood a 7.5. The fantasy portion of the story, taken alone, was above average, on the strength of the elaborate focus on dragon society and culture. It was the other twists that made this an even more interesting tale and raised my rating a bit. For this series, if in fact this is the beginning of one, to truly remain above average the pieces of the larger world as a whole and some of its history and truths needs to play a larger role in the story. Hopefully they will be more than just interesting addendum to the story. Bitterwood promises much. We’ll have to see if it delivers in its sequels.

For those who didn't have cable television when "Alien Nation" was being broadcast, the wonderful world of TV-on-DVD releases has made it possible to catch this series in its entirety.

The "Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection" 3 DVD set has all five of the made-for-TV movies that were done after the series was canceled. For those who missed out, "Alien Nation" is about a slave ship that had 250,000 Tenctonese aboard, almost all of whom were slaves that crash landed in the Mojave Desert. Since these aliens were not able to return home, they were introduced into LA and allowed to assimilate as best they could. The main focus is Detective George Francisco and his family. George is an officer partnered with a human, Matt Sikes, and together they work mostly homicide cases.

The series has a focus on tolerance, which is pretty evident in the movies, as the aliens, known as Newcomers face human prejuidice. Some of the Newcomers become concerned about their own racial purity and so they have to come to terms with being a minority in a world filled with what they feel is an inferorior species. There are cultural clashes and serious faux pas galore throughout the movies as the two cultures do their best to adjust. What is nice is that the creators of the show definitely put a great deal of attention into the Tenctonese language and into their cultural representations. It's easy to incorporate explanations (which remain remarkably consistent) into the general fabric of the dialog and plot. Sometimes the "people are people" spiel does get a little tiresome, but then, I watched all of these movies in a single sitting, rather than spaced out over the three years they were made, so it's acceptable within the framework of a show finishing its story arc through multiple movies that aren't going to get shown consecutively.

The series is still highly enjoyable, especially since the Tenctonese go far beyond just being a sort of Bizarro World class of humans, despite being very humaniod in appearance. Of course, more humanoid aliens would be far more likely to survive in a human world, since their might be hesitance on the part of humanity to just go ahead and shoot them and be done with it. It really is a (forgive me Mr. Roddenberry and Mr. Spock) highly logical show.

The look is also a bit surprising, due mostly to the fact that "Alien Nation" is both brightly light and very colorful. These movies were aired during the mid-nineties, before the "X-files" effect really came into vogue, and it's a bit of a shock seeing a show that is a cross between science-fiction and police procedural that actually has color and lighting that isn't pale, washed-out, and shades of blue or green. The make-up effects still hold up, especially in an era obsessed with what computers can do for the movie and television industry, and while some of the special effects now look like they'd be more at home in an old, unretouched "Star Wars" movie, the show is all about the characters and is therefore not completely effects driven. So many shows lose sight of what well-designed sets and costumes can do for a production and completely forget about what green-screen shots really look like when they're done. Sure, some of it looks really good, but a whole lot of it just sort of ends up looking-well-animted. "Alien Nation" is certainly a series that people could look at to get an idea of what things could be.

The movies also have very interesting scores. Rather than just hammering home the idea that the Tenctonese have keener senses, the scoring in the show really tries to portray the Tenctonese aesthetic. The music is multi-layered, with startling, almost heart-beat like tribal drums and rich complex harmonies that would probably make Bach weep for joy. It's very unusual, uplifting music that emphasises and forwards every scene where it's used. There are human songs, but there are also human songs which have been reworked with lyrics in Tenctonese which is both surprising and highly satisfying. It's amazing, exciting, and inspiring to see that kind of dedication to a project

There is so much to like about these DVDs, mostly just on the basis of the movies themselves. Sure, they're really just hugely extended episodes of a series and they're made-for-TV movies with all the commercial break interruptions that implies, but they have great stories that add a little humor and a really good point about tolerating others who aren't quite as different as one might think.

The set is relatively low priced, usually averaging around $25, and it has been on sale for even less on a few isolated occasions. The Special Features are kind of standard, consisting mostly of commentary, making of featurettes, and gag reels, but for fans of the show and for those who might be highly interested in the nuts and bolts of creating their own sci-fi show one day they offer some pretty valuable insight into the television process.

What isn't so great is the fact that four of the five movies are on double-sided DVDs. The show is packaged in two slim-line cases, but I've seen four-disc sets released before this that could fit in a case the size of a single DVD case. Those double-sided discs seem an awful lot like a very cheap cop-out, especially considering the middle part meant to hold the discs in place doesn't seem fantastically sturdy. The probability of these DVDs getting scratched or smeared with finger prints, unfortunately, seems very, very high.

So, is this set worth it? If you like sci-fi that doesn't take itself too seriously and fish-out-of-water comedy with frequent wordplay jokes, then yes, this set ought to keep you very happily entertained for a while. If you're a fan of the show, it's definitely worth the money to purchase these. If you're a newbie whose curious, these movies are also a very good introduction to the show, though I highly recommend you watch the movies in order. It's easy to tell what sequence the should be watched in by the package, alas, the DVDs are not so obviously labeled. It was still a fun way to spend a very rainy, very cold afternoon.

it’s a big night on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation -- the grand opening of the multimillion-dollar Crazy Horse Casino.

And for ONE of them, it will be their last night on Earth.

One of the interesting things about Casino Boogie is how it changes things up from Indian Country. In Indian Country we are introduced to Bad Horse as our main protagonist and through 5 issues the plot follows him through a linear path in which we get to know some of the other main characters and a bit of the workings of The Rez. But if Indian Country is a story told linearly then Casino Boogie spreads out and is told laterally. This manifests itself in a few ways.

Issue #6 acts as a good transition between these two different story telling styles because it follows a similar pattern to the previous 5 issues allowing us to shadow Bad Horse before imparting on us the important textual lesson that he is not the only character. In this volume we will start to see the broader canvass of characters, their fractured personal histories and the intricately plotted connections that inform their depths.

Red Crow becomes further a Shakespearean figure carrying the weight on his shoulders, the weight of identity, the weight of history and the weight of power. He is compelling, interesting and dare I say that he is a tragic figure; I do have to wonder if his days are numbered. Gina Bad Horse decade’s later still carries the wounds of one moment in time, when two federal agents were killed, and still can't reconcile the embodiment of 'the end justifies the means' that everyone and everything around her has become. She will be a catalyst for explosive change. For Catcher, the alcoholic medicine man, it remains to be seen if he is strong enough to handle what he sees, and more importantly, what he will do. He is the wildcard. Interestingly it’s in Diesel, a white man who claims a 1/16th Kickapoo heritage and self identifies as an Indian, that we get an interesting study in identity politics. He is fervent in his belief of the purity of his heritage but revels in the stereotypical trappings of the race. He is a caricature but a dangerous and violent one. He is a steam roller plowing through everything so his role remains unclear. Dino Poor Bear, who we saw in the first volume, comes from a once powerful family, and is ambitious but a dreamer. His story will be an interesting one, to see if he becomes a pawn moved by greater forces or accumulates some power and changes the configuration of the board. His is a character to watch.

One other way that Casino Boogie spreads out laterally is that it approaches a near-Ulyssean portrait of one single day. Though each section will focus on just one character of this diverse cast the larger exploration of the nuances and facets of the day from every direction possible won't be lost. It’s an exercise in precise plotting to weave together this tapestry of characters and events and Aaron's skills are improving with each book.

This touches on something that is demonstrable here; that each issue functions as a complete story arc but progresses the larger narrative arc forward. This can be a hard balance to strike sometimes, especially in this age of graphic novels, but Aaron never forgets those readers who are purchasing each individual issue on a monthly basis.

Sometime the punch you dont see coming is the one that just hit you. That’s how I felt a couple of times while reading Casino Boogie. Aaron is such a skilled writer that he literally repeats and recycles not one but two reveals from the first volume. But the damdest thing is that you just don't see it coming. It's a deft trick that I would imagine is a tough one to pull off but yet again Aaron nails it.

Casino Boogie capitalizes on the strengths that were shown in Indian Country and improves at every level to tell a compelling and interesting story. It will take us from the top of the power structure all the way down to the kid who mops the floor of the casino and everyone in between. We will go from fifty-five years ago to the present. We will go to the spirit world and come back changed. What’s next? Dunno but I can’t wait.

Fans of Asimov will recognize the bare bones of later works in Pebble in the Sky, his first published fiction novel. This story takes place many years before the Foundation series and contains some hints of these stories yet to come. The Galactic Empire has spread and continues to grow in all directions. Trantor is the capital and central world of the Empire, operating a massive bureaucracy from its political hub. At this time, however, Earthlings are still living on the surface of the planet and are isolated from the rest of the human population. Planetary prejudice and political unrest have reinforced this separatist notion, making Earth a backwater assignment no imperial servant wants.

Life on Earth is hard. There are limited resources and the suspicion of radiation poisoning colors everything. Society is run by a quasi-religious order that enforces the life limitation of sixty years, ostensibly to make room for others who are being born. Many seem content to live only sixty years, but others are always on the lookout for ways to avoid the mandated euthanasia.

Into this world drops (literally) Joseph Schwartz. Due to an unfortunate accident in a nuclear lab in 1949, Mr. Schwartz is thrown forward in time by millennia and finds himself living in an ultra-modern Earth. Not as easy as it seems, as language has continued to evolve and he can’t understand anything. In addition, humanity itself has physically evolved which makes Schwartz an ancient version of unknown homo sapiens. Even worse, Schwartz is 62 - two years past the enforced Sixty rule and destined to die.

This is not a dark, dystopic story, however, and is infused with Asimov’s usual intelligent humor. Political maneuvering and scientific discoveries go hand-in-hand as Schwartz makes new friends and struggles to survive. The Empire is forced to recognize Earth as a power to be reckoned with, but this may or may not be good for the Earthlings in general and Schwartz in particular.

Asimov was truly a master, delineating the scope of science fiction as a genre. He breathed intelligence and real science into his fiction, making his writing one of the best examples of what true science fiction is. His characters are believable, some likeable and others not, and somehow he always works a twist into the plot where the reader least expects it. Even more, Asimov pushes the readers to examine both self and society. He seems to want readers to acknowledge the negatives of humanity and then celebrate the positives. That which makes us as humans great can also be that which causes us to destroy ourselves.

If you are a fan of Asimov, you should read his first scifi book Pebble in the Sky. If you have never dabbled into Asimov, or any science fiction for that matter, dip a toe into this book. I think you might find the water is just to your liking!

Chris Keating hated his life. He hated living on a planet covered mostly with water. He hated the smell of rotting seaweed. He hated his job and the fact he was an orphan. However, he despised the Selkies more than all of these hates put together. Modified genetically from human DNA, the Selkies were beings who could live underwater and on land. They had gills, modified hearing, vision and speech, all of which enabled them to be at home in the sea while still looking human. Because they were so at home in the water, Selkies ruled Marseguro, the planet Chris had the unfortunate reality of calling home.

Settled when a starship escaped Earth to flee religious and political persecution, Marseguro has remained hidden from Earth for seventy years. Not anymore. Selkies and humans alike will face their greatest fears when Earth seeks that which was lost to them seventy years ago, causing all involved to come to terms with the realities of prejudice and hate.

Portraying people at their worst and their best, this book challenges readers to revisit their first impressions. The unexpected dives in the storyline only add interest and depth to what could have been a shallow and simple sci-fi tale. Characters face issues of nature vs. nurture, the effects of bullying and the deep seated threads of prejudice, yet readers do not need to acknowledge any of this to enjoy Marseguro. Added to the mix is delightful display of tech that more resembles Star Trek (possible) as opposed to Star Wars (never gonna happen).

I liked this book more than I thought I would when I first picked it up. The author was constantly surprising me, which doesn’t happen often, twisting the usual sci-fi conventions into more than just a shoot ‘em up space opera. Edward Willett has created people, personalities with belief systems and misguided judgments who make mistakes in trying to do what they believe is right. Still what I would consider light reading, Marseguro is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon on another planet. I look forward to the release of the sequel to Marseguro, Terra Insegura, later on next year.

Tad Williams has a knack for creating an atmosphere. His fantasy worlds are fully populated and full of fanciful imagination and realistic character interactions. When you read one of his fantasies you can imagine a whole wide world full of his imaginary people. Shadowplay is no different. The second of his Shadowmarch series, Shadowplay directly follows the events from the first book.

He starts off with the narrow escape of Princess Briony from her home as it is taken over by a treasonous branch of the royal family. The reader first follows Briony and her companion, Shaso, the former Southmarch master of arms and the man she had formerly believed to be a part of the murder of her brother, Prince Kendrick and who had thus been imprisoned for months. Theirs is an uneasy voyage; the princess has never had to fend for herself, has never been hungry and at first has difficulty with the idea of running and hiding.

The next thread for the reader to take up is the story of Prince Barrick, Briony’s twin, who has been given a secret mission for the Twilight People behind the shadowline following the Southmarch army’s defeat at the hands of those same People. Traveling through their lands, into unknown territory with unknown dangers and difficulties; Barrick is accompanied by Ferras Vansen, the former captain of the royal guard who is not only in love with Briony but has been charged by her with the safety of her brother.

While those are the two main threads of the storyline, Williams weaves into the story a handful of other players. Among these are the imprisoned King Olin, held for ransom by Ludis Drakava, Lord Protector of Hierosol, Qinnitan an acolyte of the Hive in Xis who has escaped and is on the run, Merolanna, the royal twins’ great aunt who is still inside the Southmarch castle, Chert Blue Quartz one of the Funderlings who not only has a very strange adopted child but is helping Chaven, the former royal physician work against the treasonous Tollys, Matthias Tinwright at poet at Southmarch, and Daikonas Vo a Perikalese mercenary sent by the autarch of Xis to return Qinnitan. As you can see from the long laundry list of players above, this is not a simple one act play. The reader is allowed into each of these characters minds and is able to see the world from their point of view as well as the view of the main characters. Some may find this distracting, the moving back and forth among so many characters, but I generally don’t as long as the number of characters that I enjoy reading about outweighs the number of characters whose stories I must wade through. Unfortunately, in my opinion, there are very few characters whose fate I truly wish to follow in this book. Thus I found the story to be very uneven with the characters I was interested in being thrown in like candy amongst a morass of plot and characters that I just did not care about.

While I found the plot itself, at its most basic, to be something I would normally enjoy; Williams’ need to throw in everything but the kitchen sink and to drag out certain storylines till they were dull as ditchwater made me sigh with frustration several times during my reading. With some hefty word count cuts and some judicious flashback and tale-telling use, I feel this could be a stellar book. The characterization is deftly handled, the political plotting and inter-character relations were all finely tuned and the realization of the world itself incredibly imagined. At heart, this is a good story and worth reading, though it certainly would not be harmed by a judicious cut back of about 100 pages.

The story is set on Firefly Island, a land inhabited by four peoples, each with their own magical gift. The Stonesons can magically manipulate stone, Esirens can transmit thoughts, Healers have the power to heal wounds, and the Forrestfolk can transform their own bodies to mimic the attributes of animals. From time to time, each race will produce an individual known as a Firechild, whose powers dramatically surpass the others of their race.

Aeolia, a teenage girl, has a unique gift: she can link her mind to those around her, directly sharing thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Her gift must be kept secret at any cost, because it makes her the only person on the Island capable of killing Sinther, brutal king of the militaristic nation of Stonemark, whose mastery of the innate magic of his people has let him transform his body into invulnerable living stone. Sinther knows that someone with the power to harm him is out there, and is willing to destroy whole nations to eliminate the only threat to his rule. Sold into slavery as a child, Aeolia’s only solace is the hope that she will someday be reunited with Joren, her brother, who swore that someday he would find her.

Her life as a slave comes to an end when she is found by Prince Lale, son of King Sinther. He means to kill her, but a struggle breaks out and Aeolia escapes in the chaos. On the run, hoping to find her brother, Aeolia finds a protector in a young man named Talin. Her desperate flight will take her across the Island and into a bloody struggle for the future of all its peoples. It will also bring her to her beloved brother Joren, but he is not the boy Aeolia used to know…

I enjoyed this book a good deal. After a slightly slow start, the story picks up and kept me interested. The magical innate abilities that form the basis of the setting were an interesting change from the sort of magic more typical of medieval fantasy, and are used in some creative ways. The characters are interesting and enjoyable, and the portrayal of Aeolia’s growing strength and courage in the face of increasing and adversity is well-done.

The book did have two weaknesses. The first is that the romantic subplot involving Aeolia seemed to progress too fast, and with too little fleshing out. This diminished its effects somewhat. The second is that Arenson’s descriptions of large-scale battles, which are important to the plot, were not satisfying to me; they would have benefited from more attention and detail.

Overall, however, the book’s strengths overshadow its weaknesses. One of my favorite aspects was the way magic was used and described- the bodies of the shapeshifting Forrestfolk warping and shifting with each moment to gain advantage in battle, Stoneson armies bringing fortifications crashing down by sheer combined will, or the confusing and somewhat frightening blurring of thought and identity when Aeolia fully links with another mind. I especially enjoyed the look at what happens when a Forrestwoman gets cut in two while temporarily shifted into the form of a worm. A powerful Forrestfolk shapeshifter can take on the attributes as the form of other animals, and worms have some remarkable regenerative abilities…

I also quite liked the characterization of the evil Prince Lale: prince of a great nation, leader of armies, and pitilessly brutal to those who oppose him, yet ultimately a pathetic, even pitiable figure driven not by ambition or power or ideals, but by a self-destructive desperation to please and be accepted by his tyrannical father. I found the character both poignant and sadly believable. This also provides some nice characterization for his father King Sinther, despite the relative brevity of Sinther’s personal appearances in the book. It is made clear from his bloody crimes against the nations of the Island that Sinther is an evil figure, but it is Arenson’s portrayal of Sinther’s revoltingly cruel psychological destruction of his own son that really sold him to me as a monster.

I thought “Firefly Island” was a very promising debut for Arenson. As a self-contained story of only 347 pages, it is an especially good choice if you like fantasy but don’t want to become committed to reading a long series or one of the 900-page tomes that are so common in fantasy nowadays. It is also, despite some fairly grim aspects, generally more upbeat in tone than many other modern writers of medieval fantasy, which is nice if you enjoy the genre but want a break from the darker, more downbeat worlds of fantasy authors like Glen Cook, George Martin, or Steven Erikson. I would highly recommend this book for fantasy fans, and look forward to seeing how Daniel Arenson develops.

Every once in a while a book comes along that redefines enjoyment and artistry. With Breath and Bone, Carol Berg has achieved just that. The magic in this story lives and breathes in the very words and phrasing of the tale. I have not read a more captivating work of art in sometime.

Readers are drawn seamlessly into Valen’s mind in this first person point of view tale spun effortlessly, woven with magic and such craft as to gift life into its very pages. Valen finds himself between the devil and the deep blue sea as his oaths and renegade reputation catch up with him. Bound to the bastard prince Oriel and struggling against a deadly addiction, he comes the overwhelming realization the kingdom and the very existence of all creation depend on him and his questionable decision making. At the root of it all lies the reason for his grandfather’s madness and the hatred he feels from his father.

The plot twists and turns, knarled like an old tree and filled with unexpected darkness. Hidden motivations come to light and questions raised by the first book in this series, Flesh and Spirit, are answered. The tale is filled with numerous characters yet each has an individual voice so readers easily can keep them straight. More than a typical quest fantasy, Valen struggles with questions many people face. Issues of familial devotion, abandonment, and loyalty are woven within the age-old conflict of whether the ends justify the means. Is saving the lives of hundreds worth the damning of one soul?

I could find no weak link in the golden chain of this story. From beginning to end I was held in thrall by the beauty and blending of myth and magic. Carol Berg is a gifted artist who paints magnificent scenes of prose. The only slightly negative statement I can make is to beware - know that every book you read from now on may suffer in comparison. Here is a book that will compel you to return and enjoy its texture and savor its depth. Bravo, Ms. Berg!

At The City’s Edge by Marcus Sakey: A Review

Say one thing for Marcus Sakey; he can make a reader keep turning pages. Honestly, I have spent more time contemplating what to write for this review than I needed to read his sophomore novel. Initially, upon finishing At the City’s Edge, it struck me as an enjoyable crime story that was fine for the moment, but would ultimately be forgotten.

But At the City’s Edge lurked around the edges of my thoughts while I moved on to other books. Little things kept coming back to me, snippets of character or feelings and impressions that At the City’s Edge delivered as well or often better than whatever I was currently reading. It isn’t just a case of absence making the heart grow fonder either. At the City’s Edge simply never left me.

My one complaint about this novel-and indeed, it is a complaint I had of Sakey’s first novel: The Blade Itself-is that when you boil his plots down to their simplest elements you feel that you have read them before. Sakey seems to enjoy playing with the tried and true plot devices of crime fiction. The Blade Itself featured a reformed criminal whose old life collides with his new existence personified by his vindictive old partner. In At the City’s Edge, discharged soldier Jason Palmer returns to Chicago from Baghdad to be caught up in the conspiracy the killed his brother. From the time I read the back cover copy until I finished the book I thought, this story could be a bad Steven Segal movie.

And it would have been, but for those little things. Sakey deftly builds his novels around a series of character moments and interactions. They weave themselves together to become much more than the “soldier back from the war.” The author's use of music for instance. It was always there, from seemingly incongruous moments like our lead, Jason Palmer listening to Bjork while on duty in Baghdad, to a subtle nod to Canada’s Rolling Stones: The Tragically Hip, as Sakey name drops lead singer Gord Downie. A conversation about Tom Waits is the centerpiece that Jason Palmer and Elena Cruz come to trust each other over. The most significant of these "little things" is how Sakey writes the characters of Jason Palmer and his nephew Billy. When Billy’s father Michael is murdered, Jason’s desire to protect his nephew is overshadowed by his need for revenge. Sakey has shown how Jason’s desire for revenge impacts the shell-shocked Billy. And when Jason realizes how selfish he has been, how he has been avoiding his responsibilities as an uncle to play at being a soldier again and how he must now be uncle and more to an orphaned boy, it is one of the most powerful scenes I have read in any fiction.

Jason is a believable, though not entirely sympathetic protagonist, a competent soldier who never quite tumbles over the cliff into action movie cliché. He manages to ably move the story along at a good clip, but it is Elena Cruz, the Latina cop who really shines through. Elena has as many strong moments as Jason, and is in many ways, a more relatable character. Elena has worked hard to get to where she is: she is the first woman to work Chicago’s elite Gang Intelligence Unit. Unfortunately a moment of weakness with a superior has caused her to be working a desk instead of walking the beat. Despite getting dragged into the conspiracy that caused Michael Palmer’s death, and the aid that she gives to Jason, you never lose the sense that Elena is a cop. The rest of Sakey’s Chicago is populated by a racially diverse crowd that never seems shoehorned in, or assembled by committee.

The majority of At the City’s Edge takes place in the Crenwood area of Chicago. While Sakey’s Crenwood is based on a very real part of Chicago, it is a narrative invention. The author himself says this in the afterword, that out of sensitivity to the residents of that part of Chicago, who have lived their whole lives there, he didn’t feel a couple of rides with the police had earned him the right to tell their story. It struck me as an incredibly humble position for an author to take.

At the City’s Edge will blister your fingers as it keeps you up late into the night, but unlike most quick reads, its subtleties will linger with you far longer. Sakey is a growing talent, whose stories live up to their hype and reviews, and who with any justice, will one day be considered side by side with the likes of Michael Connelly and Elmore Leonard.

Gavril faces his deepest fear-that he cannot exist without his Drakhoul. His comfortable life was turned upside down in the first book of this trilogy with the appearance of a smoky presence that wrapped around him and invaded his being. The Drakhoul, a dark and demanding creature, promised strength beyond reckoning and breathed sulfur into Gavril’s soul. This power came with a heavy price, however. Gavril sustained physical changes without and within, his body changing into a dragon with the appetite of a vampire. Unable to face living as a monster, Gavril throws off his familiar with the help of Kiukiu and looks forward to living as a human again. Unfortunately, without the power of the Drakhoul to protect his people, Gavril is taken prisoner and Eugene proclaims himself Emperor of all he surveys.

Ms. Ash blazes through her descriptions of people. As the second book in the series entitled The Tears of Artamon, Prisoner of the Iron Tower is Act II of a three act play. There are many characters and most seem to be playing more than one role. Attempting to identify the alliances made and betrayed can leave one breathless. Like a typical second act, life seems dark for our hero Gavril and the countries fighting for independence.

I enjoyed this one more than the first, which is a bit unusual. The author seems to delve deeper into the primary characters, making them real. Readers see into the mind of Eugene, the self-proclaimed Emperor of New Rossiyan. He is not a flat, all-out bad guy but is very human, a contradiction. The loving father, afraid to emotionally embrace his new wife because the loss of the first was so painful. This alongside of the imperious ruler who demands instant groveling, paranoid about all around him and whose dreams consist of all he sees bowing to him. Readers sense that if Astasia and Eugene could just communicate better, a love could blossom that could heal the agony in his heart.

However, the character development of Eugene is balanced by a frenetic bouncing between other characters, shifting the focus so much I became a bit frustrated. I wanted the story to land in one place and develop more. I think she attempted to do too much here, trying to balance the story of Eugene as a budding emperor with the rebellion in the south and the destruction of Gavril’s country in the north. On top of all this is the search to understand the Drakhoul and his kind, to control or banish him forever. The story dashes one way and then swerves the other, like the daemon-dragon of the tale. Reader, beware! Ms. Ash invests effort in creating her characters only to pitch them off a cliff for the sake of the story. My hope is Sarah Ash will resolve this story effectively in book three of The Tears of Artamon, The Children of the Serpent Gate.

“Battle Dragon” by Edo van Belkom is not a deep book, but it does pose an interesting question. If a firebreathing dragon was sent forward in time to the age of airplanes, how would it fare in those battles?

Tibalt is a fire-breathing dragon with revenge in his heart as he terrorizes the English village of Dervon 1000 years ago. Even after vengeance is satisfied the arrogant Tibalt vows to continue attacking humans as they are not worthy to share the world with dragons. Despite being warned that mankind would become more advanced and in the future would be able to be more than a match for dragons in the sky, Tibalt still considers humans worth nothing more than being wiped out. Left with no other choice, the wizard Asvald sends the dragon forward in time, to an era when humans will be more of a match for dragons, and he will learn the foolishness of his beliefs, or so that is the hope. I thought that sending a dragon forward in time to be someone else’s problem in order to solve yours was not very noble and heroic. But anyway…

That time is 1940 Britain, in the midst of World War II’s Battle of Britain. Would Tibalt win in aerial battles against the “steel dragons” of the British Royal Air Force and the German Air Forces? Would World War II air power rule the skies against a dragon?

After a dragon appears in the middle of the war, the Royal Air Force believes that they are witnessing a new German weapon. The Germans believe they are seeing a new British weapon. The dragon may want to destroy every plane it can find, but with both sides looking for him he may get a lot more than he bargained for.

It was a curious “What If?” to keep the pages turning. The storyline was pretty straight forward, with only enough character development to tell the reader exactly what they need to know in the present of the story. I’d put the target audience as Young Adults. “Battle Dragon” read almost like a fable, with a bit of World War II history about the Battle of Britain added in.

The Battle of Britain portion of the story was done in fine detail. I personally enjoyed that aspect of the story more than the dragon aspect. For a younger though who may be getting his or her first exposure to either dragons or history this could very well make for a very nice appetite whetting for both subject matters. Edo van Belkom ends the book with a nice acknowledgement and a bibliography of books and a video about the Battle of Britain to learn more about the real battle. It is obvious that he was very passionate about that part of the story, and he did justice to that piece of historical fiction within the story.

That said, the story is short. It comes in at 270 pages. Even for a young adult book I thought that it could be a little longer. Even 20 pages or so could have fleshed out some of the characters better. The story featured a wizard from 1000 years ago who was still alive in 1940 and proved to be pivotal to the plot. It would have been nice to know just a bit more about him. Other than the fact that he served in World War I and worked in a non-combat support role, that’s about all the information we get about a man who was at least a thousand years old.

In 1940 dragons were the stuff of legend. They existed a thousand years ago, but where did they go? Are they still in existence but hiding? Did man and their technology hunt them to extinction in the past? We never find out, even though we have a millenium old wizard who would likely know the answer. We could have learned more about the wizard and about the decline of the dragons in one fell swoop.

Also, after the drama of both sides in a race to find the dragon and add it to their arsenals, that storyline was ended in very quick and anti-climactic fashion. I realize you probably want to keep a YA book short, but another 20 pages with a little more depth would have added a good bit, and would have still been a quick read.

That’s why I liken the story to a fable. You don’t get much deep information out of the story, or anything unexpected out of the plot. But you learn a little bit about history, and everyone learns a valuable lesson in the end.

It’s definitely one for the youngsters but there’s not enough meat on the bones or in the plot to make this an exceptional read. It is an interesting read in a straightforward fashion and it is a quick read, although not one that I personally would buy new off the shelf. The plot on the back cover pretty much sums it up, so it’s a simple “what you see is what you get”. If I were trying to expose a young teenager to fantasy though I’d give this one a shot. I’m all for any books that get kids reading.

Raquel has everything- beauty, power, and all the money she could ever want. What she doesn’t have is a faithful husband. Match that with a prenuptial agreement signed in haste and no proof of infidelity and you have one vengeful lady. Revenge is a dish best served sweet and Raquel knows how to turn up the heat. Her own husband won’t recognize her as the passionate woman she longs to be, but maybe someone else will.

Tess Mackall has taken the traditional plot of infidelity and vamped it up a hundredfold. Gabriel is the epitome of all female fantasies. His character is raw and in charge. Readers will be mesmerized with the description, storyline, and, of course, the ending. Be prepared to salivate and yearn for more from this new erotic author. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series.

This book is available from Dark Eden Press as an ebook.
http://www.darkedenpress.com/book_tess-mackall-gr1-gabriels-horn.html