China Mieville is the premiere iconoclast of the fantasy genre. Before (or at the same time) that “punk” (as in cyberpunk, splatterpunk and mythpunk) became a common subgenre suffix, Mieville laid out the manifesto of the New Weird movement, a literary movement about subverting fantasy and horror tropes. His work is gritty, urban, political, subversive, disquieting—and adult. His language is baroque—he knows the Oxford English Dictionary and isn’t afraid to use it. Mieville’s imagery borders on the Lovecraftian. And the work is ripe with allusion, from Marxist and gender theory to African literature. (Iron Council, the last of the Bas Lag novels, unabashedly models itself after the late Senegalese filmmaker Sembene Ousmane’s novel God’s Bits of Wood). So it is naturally intriguing to see how Mieville reconciles heady version of fantasy to the young adult novel, in Un Lun Dun.

Mieville has described Un Lun Dun as his answer to the classic children’s story trope, in which kids from our modern world are swept into another world, a la The Wizard of Oz or any of the C.S. Lewis Narnia books. The plot centers on two young teenagers, Zanna (Suzanna) and Deeba in London who begin to notice strange things happening around them, mostly focusing on the tall, blonde Zanna. Animals look at her strangely, and a strange mist follows them around. One night, Zanna and Deeba follow a strange sight—a broken umbrella that moves—to an abandoned basement. As if compelled by something else, Zanna turns a valve. When the girls step outside of the basement, they find themselves in a skewed parallel world version of London, called Unlundun.

It’s a fabulous and scary place. Houses are built of abandoned technology, like old LPs and radios, ghosts walk the street, buses fly and a host of strange creatures, including carnivorous giraffes and giant flies. It’s a colorful place, anachronistic, magical and steampunk at once. Westminster Abbey and the London Eye and Thames appear in the city in altered forms. Mieville’s playfulness and love of puns—and extensive knowledge of London are displayed here. Thus, there is a Webminster Abbey, and the river Smeath. Unlundun is overseen by the Propheseers, an august group of prophets who live on a floating bridge, and the girls find themselves embroiled in a complex plot in which an ancient enemy, a sentient cloud of pollution called the Smog, is trying to take over the city. Zanna is the Chosen One, as the talking book of prophecies explains, and she has a Quest, one which defeat the evil smog and its minions.

Just as the reader is about to settle down into a comfortably familiar quest story in a strange land, Mieville completely flips the script. Without being too spoiler-y, Zanna, the mythic chosen one, is taken out of the action, and in her place is Deeba, who much assume the role of Chosen One, even though she isn’t in the book (and which the book goes to great lengths to explain). Deeba, a resourceful young lady of Pakistani ancestry, also discovers an even more insidious plot of the Smog which involves an MP in our world’s version of London.

Un Lun Dun is a noble experiment, but it falls short of being excellent. While Un Lun Dun is full of invention and humorous games with language—literally living words are among the book’s pleasures—there is a lack of depth. The Bas-Lag novels revel in their linguistic richness, but Un Lun Dun is artificial vanilla pudding to those novels crème brulee. In writing for younger readers, he’s stripped back too much of what made those books so powerful, and consequently doesn’t play to his strengths. The novel is also didactic, a weakness that Mieville showed in Iron Council. There’s an obvious environmental theme running through the narrative that kind of hits the reader over the head. The book was also a bit overlong, and the characters, save for Deeba and the half-wraith boy Hemi. But these are mere quibbles. The subversive imagination more than makes up for the shortcomings. Mieville’s narrative manages to both parody and homage quest fiction. There’s tons of whimsy, combined with some truly horrific set pieces—including deaths and the humans possessed by the Smog, called Stink-Junkies and Smombies. It’s these tidal shifts in tons that make Un Lun Dun as much a part of Mieville’s trademark New Weird ethos as anything he’s written before. Finally, a note about the line drawings the author provides--they are a suitably quirky nod to illustrated fiction that capture the creepy and funny vibe of the novel.

The novel is written for younger readers, and if I were twelve years old, I’d gobble it up. It’s a perfect antidote (or companion?)t Harry Pottermania—a young adult book that is downright cool. Maybe you can call it YA-punk.

Coming from a different direction, Peter David explores the Peter Pan legend through the eyes of Paul, a young man whose family has experienced a terrible loss. Paul's baby sister dies in her crib one night. His family deals with this tragedy in different ways. Paul's mother retreats into reality, declaring that only the recognition of the pain of life will make one strong enough to survive. Paul's father simply retreats, leaving his family and the woman who used to be his wife but is now a stranger. Paul relies on what he believes - that his friend, the Boy of Legend, and the magic that surrounds the Boy can somehow replace his sister with another baby. After rescuing a pixie, Paul finds himself led into Anyplace and embroiled in a power struggle between the pirates and the Boy. Thus begins an adventure for Paul that will cause him to question his beliefs and face the most difficult pain of all - saying goodbye.

His quest is not all rainbows and roses. Peter David, the author, weaves the thread of loss and loneliness heavily throughout the story. While some might believe the subject matter of sadness and rejection are too much for younger readers, I disagree. What child has never experienced some type of loss? This is an excellent example of how one little boy deals with the pain he is feeling.

Mr. David writes in a lyrical prose that is a work of art. Unfortunately, the structure and cadence of the writing serves to separate the reader from the story, keeping the reader from participating in the fantasy, experiencing the wonder alongside Paul. Instead, a gulf has been formed, maintaining a strict formality of here is the story and over there stands the reader. For readers who enjoy submerging themselves into a book's reality, this will be a disappointment.

In spite of this, or maybe because of it, I enjoyed this story. The formality and separation served to give the book an old-fashioned feel, as if this was a dusty favorite resurrected from the nursery. The style of the book gives it a sense of being made to read out loud. The cadence lends itself to auditory emphasis and perhaps would be more entertaining to children to listen to the story rather than read it themselves. Peter David goes behind the scenes of NeverNever Land, giving bones and structure to a legend that has spanned generations. He brings in many well-known characters from Peter Pan, giving them fresh faces and different reasons for existing. The new characters are blended seamlessly in with the previous legends, causing Tigerheart to be able to stand on its own.

This is a deep story that would bear well under the scrutiny of a literature class. The nuances of the storyline, though delicate, are clear. Here is a young man struggling to understand the abandonment by his mother, the painful escape of his father, and the harshness reality can bring to life. Mr. David ties up all his loose ends in the end, delivering a whimsical tale that harkens back to the elegance of turn-of-the- century literature.

I am a huge sword and sorcery fan. I grew up reading the mythical stories of Howard’s Conan , Moorcock’s Elric , Leiber’s Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser , and Moore’s Jirel of Joiry . The staging of drama, romance and high adventure set in a fantastic land have always held a special part in my heart—journeys started quietly that end up shaping the future of man. And above all others, I hold David Gemmell in the highest regard.

Like all quests, this one begins with a search. While all quests have different beginnings, they all inevitably have the same outcome; the quest becomes more of a journey to within—to the soul. The journey in Quest For Lost Souls begins with a young boy named Kiall and his journey to rescue a hopeless love and how through the power of his simple kindness, a whole world is changed and destinies fulfilled. Along the way, he encounters the heroes of Bel-azar, the city which was at the center of the last battle fought against the Nadir armies led by Tenaka Khan, the hero of The King Beyond The Gate . Years have passed since that epic battle of Bel-azar and the surviving heroes begin to question why Tenaka Khan allowed them to live, and why he named them the ghosts-yet-to-be. They will travel protecting Kiall to the heart of the Nadir territory and confront Tenaka Khan’s son Jungir who is now khan after his father’s death.

What I have always loved about Gemmell’s books is his overly didactic writing style like the beating of war drums. His action sequences move from point to point, his characters always driving the plot. Some may see this as his having a limited vocabulary, which leads to many of his stories seemingly ripped from one another. Still, what some may see as a weakness, I see as a strength.

Many of Gemmell’s books deal with the theme of love, mainly the folly of love; how love can destroy and bring down the strongest of men to children. Despite this, Gemmell also liked to look at the redemptive power of love; how love can change otherwise ordinary men to heroes—farmers to legends, carpenters to saviors. And with that, Quest For Lost Heroes is really all about love—familial, lustful, innocent and heart breaking.

Gemmell is a master storyteller. However, my fascination with Gemmell’s work is not just because of his thrilling stories and epic struggles. No, my fascination with Gemmell lies with the humanity he brings to his work. Gemmell has that rare ability that not many of his peers have—the ability to show the humanity of life through pain and horror. How the deepest of pains can be strength and how even in the darkest times heroes can exist.

I remember first reading Gemmell’s seminal work Legend when I was a kid. I was young, naïve and lost like most people become at some point in their lives. What I found within those pages was hope. As time passes and I grow older, I find myself remembering the moments spent reading Gemmell’s works, works littered with heroes far past their prime—too old, too lost, too jaded—yet no matter how difficult their lives are and no matter how hard they fight it, they are heroes. And when people need help, they are there. Not because they want to, not because it’ll change the world, but because they must, because it’s what’s right.

One of the many things I have taken away from Gemmell is that one man can change the world—how one man can “matter.” To be a better person, not because you want glory, but because it’s what’s right.

A life-lesson told through a tale of sword and sorcery? What more can anyone ask for?

A disclosure : I readily see the faults of many Gemmell books, but the sub-genre sword and sorcery is my first love and like any first love, we forget the faults and only see the beauty. However, without that love I can see how these stories may seem hackneyed, misogynistic and repetitive and I fully understand if anyone has those views.

Quest For Lost Heroes is a fine addition to the growing Drenai saga mythos and I happily recommend it.

If you liked this also check out: All of Gemmell’s works, Jirel of Joiry , Conan , Usagi Yojimbo , and Dostoevsky.

When I reflect on Shannara, we are going back to the baby steps of a love affair with Fantasy that if not taken when they were, I would have probably found myself not inundated with advanced copies for a site I co-own dedicated to the subject of Speculative Fiction itself. It was not my first venture into Fantasy, but it was perhaps the first series I continued simply because it was Fantasy. Later in life I’d realize I was already a fan of the fantastic and it could be illustrated with books I read before – be it from Tolkien, Stevenson, Lovecraft, or others but I think then it was just about adventures then and Shannara offered another place I hadn’t been before, and at that age being someone who was used to and loved travel even then it was not only enough – it was optimal. I was as a child lucky enough to had already seen places and found myself at a place where so many rarely left their own state. Be it the Coliseum, the Parthenon/Acropolis, Pisa, The Sistine Chapel, Pompeii, Ercolano, the real Oktoboer Fest, Carnivale, Mardi Gras, Big Ben, Venice – Vesuvius or Fuji, the Pyramids, the Louvre a ride on The Orient Express and countless German and French castles and cathedrals and rugs from Turkey later – when I sat in history classes I always felt a chapter ahead, it was a review for me, not an introduction. Later, I’d I found myself in the dirty south of the U.S. which at the time was something not unlike exile from meaningful culture. Later, I’d recognize a highly functionable and welcome order to it all but at the time I think I was substituting that sense of wonder lost, with a maze of wonder at the library. I’m not at all sure if there were books I didn’t like then, in fact there may not have been even ‘good’ or ‘bad’ they were just all part of one large journey for me, some legs were just more memorable and some more staying power - better than I remembered - when I made the journey back, but if not, it does not taint what came before. To me I was just chillin’ with Huck one week, fishing with Ahab the next, sharing riddles in Hed after that, blew trees in the Shire a month after, all while walking through Shadow with my bud Brand who was babbling about chaos, and all because years before I wanted to go beyond where the wild things were. You see, Allanon and me, well, we go way back; before Bremen found him hiding all shook - we were already tight, even before me and Jessica used to have mélange sessions. I’d tell you my last name is Creel, but that’s another shadow, one me and only the Grimpond talk about but what you need to know is that when I wasn’t being a hell raiser as a youth, I could be found plotting my next secret vacance in my room, or what looked like plotting otherwise, why was I so quiet? Nobody complained, least of all me, because I was in my comfort zone – and I had been there before, and in fact I could fuck around and tell you how to get to Varleet from the Vale on a budget right now – like I said I’d been there before.

When discussing Shannara or Terry Brooks work in general – those that even take the time to do so anymore - many find it difficult to isolate a specific topic, having to express their stance on him and the fact alone should speak on his presence in the field. I myself am not gifted enough to buck that trend and as I type this I find myself unable to think in the box. I don’t love or hate the works of Brooks - but no different than any other writer at times I have loved and hated them. It is this relationship, this passion that defines fandom for me. Writers evolve and more importantly readers do as well and it’s not a shift that occurs one or in one direction. If we rightfully view the works of Rowling as an anomaly in regards to its measure of success in book sales – not just fantasy sales – then Brooks sits among the most successful who has ever done this and while to some that is somehow proof of impropriety against art itself, such stances prove to cause only minor chinks in the armor in one of the few writers in this field’s history that I think has a legitimate claim to being a generation’s introduction to the form – even if, irrefutably, largely borrowed beyond anyone’s attempt at shielding with the worst of paper-arguments ‘nothing new under the sun’. For myself, while presently – and for some years - my tastes have moved away from what Shannara has to offer but while I have aged and expanded upon my reading and bear with me, lore, of this corner of fiction that offers a perspective in a larger picture beyond the lines that are often the topics of heated and too often-linked discussions I try not to lose, replace, or dilute the veracity of my experience at the time. Addendums certainly - but no subtractions. The relevance of these statements to this review is due to the relationship that Dark Wraith of Shannara has with previous Shannara material, and more importantly, chapters I’m not only very familiar with, but chapters that I will always be familiar with. While it is The Heritage of Shannara arc that represents the best Brooks has shown in Shannara, and aside from his Word/Void work (in particular Angel Fire East) my favorite in his body of work, it seems to in his first three books in particular that fall into a timeline that sowed and cultivated the fanbase noted above. The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara, and The Wishsong of Shannara are not classic books, but they attempted to capture and perhaps even remind of classic tales in a form many had been waiting for, whether they were conscious of it or not. It is within these three books that the most resonant of threads could be found to truly test the waters of a market and platform I feel very strongly about: the OGN – the original graphic novel. With the success of King and Hamilton projects in sequential art, I’m interested in seeing more of and how others will follow suit and Brook’s attempt will be an interesting gauge due to that existing fanbase noted above.

When Dark Wraith of Shannara showed up at the door in January I must admit some measure of curiosity. I am perhaps a bigger fan of comics than I am in any other form of reading and I think that’s telling for anyone who is aware of how much time I put into a site like Fantasybookspot.com I love getting my VanderMeer, Erikson, Mieville, Zivkovic, Martin, Jonathan Carroll and Jeffrey Ford books – and releases by Saramago, Ishiguro, and McCarthy are close to spiritual experiences bound up and sold on shelves; Speculative fiction is close to my heart, but more than anything, I love my sequential art – I love my comics. It also presents a very low risk investment in my time, I tend to commit to my novels even if I don’t see anything of value hundreds of pages in – a habit that I think is the only plausible explanation on why so many people are familiar with books like The Fifth Sorceress. I have my own preferences and I get perhaps unequal opportunities to explore them and this format allows for a shot of Shannara I otherwise wouldn’t indulge in, and this is something I consider a fortunate circumstance.

Dark Wraith takes place some three years after The Wishsong of Shannara and utilizes principle characters from that book. This was an auspicious discovery for me as my favorite denizen of the Four Lands was introduced within those pages and the opportunity to see further adventures of Slanter was more appealing than I would have wagered. Wishsong, more than the other books really offered a group-quest that lingered due to the number of characters and the finality of where some of those paths led in how they would affect the survivors. It was also the end of the first arc and to the reader a geopolitical era and tone in Shannara that would be come forth from the Heritage arc. Because of this, I think it was the best place to mine further adventures and also a minefield due to a chance of pulling on strands knotted close to hearts. When finishing the 160 pages, I saw both of my thoughts play out. In familiar fashion a member of the Ohmsford family is recruited to continue their legacy as Allanon’s chosen champions and protectors of the land and this time –as promised - it will fall on Jair, burdened with his charge and a promise, he once again seeks out the Mwellrets who (in Wishsong) failing in their attempt and I guess strangely upset at being freed of being enslaved by the power of the Ildratch (because, you know, their evil) have plotted a new course of action: restoring the Druid Keep of Paranor to the land to unlock the knowledge within its walls. It should be said that there is not a tremendous amount attempted here, it’s a straightforward read that offers little in regards to searching for invisible thought bubbles mid-page but I think if it is aiming at the age-group I think it is, this wasn’t unforeseen or unintended. I was reading Brian K. Vaughn’s The Escapist (in collected form) at the same time and there is more going on, more weight on several individual panels and single lines in it then can be found within the entirety of Dark Wraith, but it offered this real interesting dynamic as when I was getting most disinterested in Dark Wraith I’d pick The Escapist up and it was almost telling me to take it (Dark Wraith) for what it was (anybody – and by that I mean everybody should – who had read The Escapists understands). What drove me nuts from the beginning was something that actually makes a substantial amount of sense in regards to character and story – a boy emulating someone he looked up to and able to manifesting what is most likely semi-fantasy even on its own but when augmented with legitimate need becomes something more. In comics nothing is guaranteed, especially death, and while there isn’t a true resurrection within the pages, given the nature of the original character, it’s close enough to want to reflexively argue otherwise – and that isn’t even a problem in itself or abnormal, but it did create this major and what looks to be the central element in any works to come after that if you find yourself not behind puts a very tangible ceiling on how much one can enjoy the story (and possibly further adventures). The death of Garet Jax (Wishsong of Shannara) is one of the really great deaths in the history of fiction – largely because it ended the existence of one of the most heinous, no-dimensional characters ever conceived. Garet Jax was a weapons master – unequaled, the best there is or ever was, yada, yada, yada.. He was also a walking deus ex machina – a mortal force of nature that would solve the majority of the quest’s problems by skillfully, hitting shit - sometimes hard. When he wasn’t (actively) being cool, we were being told how kewl he was by others. Let me say this about Brooks – he is consistently able to bring conclusions that satisfy and he does this by surrounding the inevitable saving of the day with a recognition of sacrifice and acceptance that does resonate and finds a corner in our memory that doesn’t fade. He showed this many times; with Amberle (Elfstones of Shannara), Allannon; he showed this with a debt and bond of two races being acknowledged by an injured Elf and Dwarf – and what these instances do is bind the allegiance of generations of Ohmsfords through representatives of the land – it is the people who become what they fight for, what they are loyal to, and through them the Four Lands and taken to the end the reader themselves. The death of Garet Jax, while welcome by me and clearly writing that was on the wall from the novel’s beginning was still one of those great moments in this child’s reading history. The ambiguity of the event, a mystery of whether or not the mortal demise of a man unequalled was in fact the reward he searched and trained for or was his sacrifice a delightful, if sobering, reality check. Say what people want to say, but these are terrific books for younger readers and Brook’s ability as a closer pays off. Like I said there is no true resurrection, thus it seems like I’m shadowboxing a bit, but the usage of the Wishsong that transforms Jair into Jax is strikes me as an element that would have been high on my list of not basing a story or a series of forthcoming stories on. The other underlining theme of Jair struggling to keep his promise of abandoning the Wishsong that he made to his sister and coincides with the familiar ‘power corrupts and eventually enslaves’ forms the apparent meat of the story that will take new readers for a tour and returning visitors a spin down memory lane. This is really an admittance of not caring for the fundamental premise and it was difficult for me to shake that as I read on as nothing really evolved from the transformation that made me not think just seeing Jair and Slanter reuniting to get by on wits, luck and experience would be more fun. I realize that some could consider it the sweetest thing imaginable, but for me it just strikes me as a decision that sounds better and perhaps even exciting as an idea thrown out there and dismissed after a second thought than it looks on paper and brought to fruition. What we are set-up for is basically a condition that allows Jair to handle any imaginable situation by being someone else and the balance is supposed to be given by Jair’s personal regret of lying to his sister in the course of saving his own life. That just cannot last for any length of time as the fundamental conflict for people who are used to reading even the least competent of fiction - indeed it got old just within these pages alone. We knew it was going to happen, we knew what going to happen when it did, we knew what Jair was going to ponder later and while it is passable – if not memorable - once it is a cycle that has to stop now and cannot carry another story. The backdrop of an adventure; the where, who, and when of it will not matter if these continue to be the bookends of the tale. I don’t know, I was looking for something to occur that even if not perceptible by the new reader, that was an attempt at really grabbing prior visitors – to let us know these graphic novels are projects that go beyond what we may want to read, but reads the afficianado has to read, filling in the gaps in the puzzle or introducing new ones – calling back to what some may hold dear, maximizing the fact that there is a fanbase that’s reading, waiting for that single moment of recognition that goes beyond bearing a name, when we look up and see familiar stars when we stop reading about wonder and start breathing it and Dark Wraith of Shannara never took that step for me. It was like following familiar tracks but upon catching up you find that they just belong to those wearing the same brand of shoes – the occupants, strangers.

It is, I know, awfully hip to say one loves the purity of black and white, and in the sense of seeing older works brought back in a collected or archive format with specific creators/pencilers I agree, but for the most part I’d be disingenuous in saying I prefer non-color. It certainly is appropriate and even optimal in some cases and this happens – I think – to be one of them. Jair himself echoed my thoughts early in the story, as an Ohmsford will once again find themselves on the banks of the Silver River on the way to a greater journey:

The black and white art helps creates this distance even when standing at what amounts to a figurative bridge in-story and for the most part I really took to the art. It is impossible for the visuals we created in our imaginations to be rendered as we saw it but there were no choices that troubled me terribly and even some that played out well and I think balanced the idea of a book for younger readers that still gave the sense of aging for those familiar with the novels and you can see this with Kimber who is a full blown tuttin now and apparently doesn't require clothing any longer. She lives in the cut, not a trailer park, still it is very alive. For the most part, the art exceeded expectations for me and managed find that middle-ground that was part of the contrast we’d see between the first two novels arcs.

Interestingly enough, I feel that the Dark Wraith of Shannara serves as better appetizer for the uninitiated to take a look at the novels and not as much as a product that at the end demands attention by those looking for more Shannara. This was a rather disappointing development for me simply because aside from seeming backwards to me, but from a purely selfish standpoint, as a former reader of Shannara I fall into the secondary category! I think in some ways, it may be underestimating the sophistication of the Manga reader, but I admit the American Manga market is something I don’t have near a comprehensive knowledge of , having not lived on those shores during it’s apparent rise in popularity and my own Manga reads are chosen with heavy deliberation as though I am a huge comic book fan and half-Japanese – I’m not what I’d call an avid fan of Manga. That said, it does give a gist of what occurred in the novel that will not leave the reader with the feeling of an incomplete tale, and that with just about everything else noted really brings us to the bottom line with this release. It’s damn well put together in terms of being friendly for anyone to pickup and comprehend – be it strictly Manga, strictly graphic novel, strictly comic book, existing Shannara fans, people who may have just read Wishsong of Shannara, or any combination of the above, but I finished not at all inspired to read on (the implication of further adventures and a continuing story is implied in the end – and by the time this review sees light possibly even announced) to any but the most loyal of fans and to me would be better suited as a nice online web comic project for fans to read between novels. I was reminded I once liked these characters but they were built with a shelf-life that I thought correctly optimized them already and nothing in these pages suggests otherwise. I think Brooks himself may have initially been aware of this (at the time) and avoided it with his early work by continuing tales in the setting with successive generations. What bothers me the most is that if you are like when you see a new project like this announced, you tend to reread source material to warm up for the event, but this 160 pages ends up not paying that off, indeed it doesn't seem to event attempt to.

The most interesting reading for me came after the story itself in the ‘making of Dark Wraith of Shannara’ segment that is also followed by a sketch-book of the artist, Edwin David. It’s rather brief but has some interesting insight on the collaboration between Robert Place Napton, who adapted (if I’m reading this correctly) Terry’s outline, David and Brooks. Visually I think Dark Wraith of Shannara is a success, the story itself does nothing for me, andI wonder how much could have been done about it, even though its really not relevant in terms of allocating opinion. It is what it is – no matter how it got there. Now in truth, I did find the story flat, a bit uneventful, it never approaches possessing any degree of suspense or a payoff and it reads very much like a preliminary outline put straight to paper. The story itself is just uninspired and felt more like a story that occurred without leaving any evidence it passed. It was like having that feeling that you just read a book but experienced a synopsis and when this occurs what happens is you get an opinion of a project that once finished, doesn’t deviate from whatever (preconceived) you had coming in. I found that upon completion I could describe (if asked) what happens in two - not unusually long - sentences in a manner that would make reading the actual 160 pages an absolutely redundant experience. I don’t like making comparisons out of thin air, as I said before at the same time I was reading this, I also happened to be reading the collected (hardcover) of Brian K. Vaughan’s The Escapists and while I can tell somebody what it was about as well (perhaps with two especially long sentences in this case) it would not in any way diminish the experience of the read itself – it had life beyond summary. There is nothing for the reader to bring to or take away from the story that they didn’t possess before. It just goes through the motions, and one feels like such a venue could be used to get dirty in the Four Lands and really what we are left with what seems more chum thrown to potential new readers than something those of us with the soil of the Westlands still stuck in our boots or seen the pride of Callahorn first-hand can get excited about. It is in a word, unnecessary, and when putting a brand that means something to many on a book, it’s the one quality you can’t be. It should be said I stopped reading Brooks after the Voyage of Jerle Shannara arc and there perhaps may be call-backs imbedded from material beyond that, that may add dimension to this graphic novel that I cannot be aware of but not once did I feel like I ever went back. One could, I suppose, possibly compare it to The Hedge Knight, which was material that chronicled activities that took place prior to the timeline in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and what you got was not a mind-blowing or essential addition, but still it was a piece, and with Dark Wraith and as someone familiar with the material and the legacy of the Ohmsfords it just doesn’t feel like a progression or even just a continuation of that, and if it tripped and fell flat, it somehow managed to do so without ever walking.

Shades!

Which is all it ended up being, nothing substantial; looks good, and while the spark of Jair’s future with Kimber leaves the faintest ripples of interest, there is just not enough brewing here that could ultimately make it recommendable and I find any attempt at lauding it impossible without following it with "for what it is" – and that’s usually the worst of signs.

Jay Tomio
The Bodhisattva

War is on the way and every Vampyre in Manhattan cab feel it coming. The balance of power has shifted and the conflicting agendas of Vampyre Clans have destabilized relations, but Joe Pitt has another fight on his hands. His girl, Evie, is sicker then ever, stuck in a hospital, losing hope, running out of time. On top of that, Joe has a new assignment: Go to Brooklyn to investigate the violent demise of a blood dealer. It puts him face to face with the strangest Vampyres he’s ever met – from a tasteless crew who flaunts their talents as circus freaks to a family who prays together as often as they slay together.

It’s a devilish task and it takes every last one of Joe’s supernatural reflexes to stay in one piece, yet one thought pushes him forward: Evie. But when desperation drives him too far, his effort to save the one thing he loves could cost him the little he has.

Half the Blood of Brooklyn is the third Joe Pitt casebook following 2005’s Already Dead and last years No Dominion. Since all of the Joe Pitt books have had the same release date, December 26th is becoming one of my favorite days of the year.

Each book tends to shed some light on some of the different clans, in No Dominion Pitt ventured into the territory of The Hood. The death of a blood dealer in the beginning of Half the Blood of Brooklyn acts as the catalyst for Pitt to venture out into the territory of some new clans to the series. Minor, lesser clans that hold less turf then the major clans do.

One of these clans gave me pause, I may not be the most ardent vampire student but I really had to rack my brain to remember even the slightest instance of this type of vampire being mentioned. This was one of the highlights of the book.

The general atmosphere of the book is that of impending doom. A major war is drawing closer and sides are being chosen. No clan, regardless of size or prior allegiance, will be able to stay out of it.

As the middle book of a five book series there is some set-up happening in order to make way for the final books. I really liked the end of this book and the blind-sided feeling that it produces.

By the end of Half the Blood of Brooklyn decisions that have been put off will have been made; changes in the Vampyre clan structure will have taken place and everything will be shaken up. Pitt hasn’t so much burned all of his bridges as he has completely blown them up and ends the book, literally, with a declaration of war.

--Brian Lindenmuth

As an aside it was recently brought to my attention that, once again, that the UK covers are far better looking then their US counterparts, adding more fuel to that fire. I hadn’t ever checked them out so I did. That person is right the UK version IS better.

The vision of a bridge probably invokes the feeling of simplicity, a means to go from A to B or vice versa, at time ornate, but more likely, sensible, serviceable, and functional, but bridges in fiction have led us to many memorable moments. Whether the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, Goats Gruff, Jon Orr, or perhaps most memorable to me, a standoff between brothers, Benedict and Brand, fans of speculative fiction have tread many bridges and with Shadow Bridge, Gregory Frost brings to us a world made of bridges, bringing a literal walkways to the figurative that exists all around us.

Our travels take us to different spans, an apt description considering our protagonist‘s ‘magic’ is in her hands - a master shadow puppeteer - as she looks back on her travels, collecting and sharing stories, and performing in a manner that had not been witnessed since a generation before. Leodora, whose stage name, Jax, relays not only the stories of the myth, but draws audiences from members of the pantheon who inhabit such stories. Relegated to a caste that views a potential marriage to the dimwit son of a lackluster family in the hinterlands as an optimal destiny, Leodora, the local pariah, who knows very little but lies and gossip regarding her eclectic parentage runs off to pursue her father’s trade. Bardsham the last master shadow puppeteer - and the greatest.

The town drunkard was the first to bring Leodora to Tenikemac as a baby and he would accompany her as she fled. Soter, the man who preserved the legacy of Bardsham, the puppets of the former master of shadow play, and passed them to his heir. Soter is the bridge to the past, prone to converse with the dead, and while his intent seems true, you get the distinct impressions he does his best to lay low, perpetually on the run but nor trying to look like it and his new, or perhaps life-long charge has raised the stakes. Is his habit due to reflecting on past digressions or the future he was waiting for? Or perhaps - he just enjoys his drink. There is guilt, there is pride, and a sense of duty.

In between the travels, two deviations highlight the novel. One to tell the story of the company’s third member picked up along the way . It’s a the story of a boy left abandoned with an abandoned home who is used as bait for a divine lottery and then sold to service to a Harem with a twist -drinks and spirits included. A musical savant/avatar, you lose yourself in his song, as although brief telling you get completely immersed and you don’t realize you left one story for another - it was always about Diverus wasn’t it? - until a member of the audience reveals a familiar face. We also get a recurring story, of creation and death, a tale of a fisherman - the original dreamer - and his wife, that adds to the immediacy of the story as they recount the mythology and origin of Shadow Bridge itself.

There is a fourth member, the secret companion, an enigma that will remain as such…

Often times when following a troupe’s travels in our reading, the journey feels as if it’s what occurs between the author’s real passion or the exact opposite, destinations are end point, rest areas in between the actions create bonds between characters in the process of running away from troubles or chasing after themselves - and in the aptly titled Shadow Bridge we have both. Nothing feels like an extensions of the other, everything is unique, everything is fantastic, we touch the mythic, we share stories with gods, then we go to find our next job, drink our next beer, catch our next fish, stare at and converse with our monuments, we play board games…with Kitsune.

A planned duology, what we also see is the development of a concept - a universe - for even more stories whether future novels or short fiction to inhabit. From parades to ‘the end’, more stories of the dragon bowl, there is fertile ground for revisiting all manners of stories in a Willinghamish way. There are preexisting cases such as a call back to call back to Frost’s fine collection Attack of the Jazz Giants and other stories, where one story - a Sturgeon finalist - entitled How Meersh the Bedeviler Lost his Toes was referenced, as Leodora viewed her puppets:

And later, the master story teller tells him - the Trickster - to go back to his own story.

It’s a beautiful story but not in the same vein I have described in more recent reviews, it’s not Valente who both whispers and screams at us with the voice that makes us anticipate each equally; Frost charms us in manner like Park did last year, and there is a feint lyric in the background , a harpist in the wind, that is beautiful but has a grace that goes beyond skin deep that brings to mind the strengths of several of my most beloved reads, but only in flashes, before forming its own vision. When confronted with just having the first book in a story, upon reaching its conclusion there are many possible reactions. Disappointment, anticipation, satisfaction, disconcertion and Frost leaves us looking back believing the phrase, "we build too many walls and not enough bridges". As we look forward, the idea that we may be a part of something special is more than a mere passing thought. We aren’t just looking forward to a worthwhile journey, we just stepped out of one., and yet we feel like we are continually chasing it and are never left feeling lethargic as at the same time we sense it stalking us. The novel physically weighs in at well below 300 pages, but you come out of it with more in the experience than you do multiple installment tomes promising swords and truths, blood and stone - you can trip on its shadow.

I’m hooked, the serenity of a fisherman’s dreams and the chaos of the beings who inhabit it offers a middle ground we can all find our place in, in this case one of the best reads of the year and this is just the beginning. I'm a traveling man this year this year; the best books of this year I encountered when walking the road and crossing a bridge.

Jay Tomio
The Bodhisattva

Escorted from prison under heavy guard, murderous psychopath Frank Snow is scheduled for an emergency brain scan at Tanglewood Memorial Hospital, an institution that is closing its doors after one final night of operation. But Snow has something far more terrifying planned. And once the lights go out, a fiendish game of hide-and-seek begins.


Alone in the dark with a homicidal madman who knows their fears, their secrets, and their every move, MRI technician Mike Hughes, his wife and child, and the other unlucky souls trapped in the hospital have no choice but to duel with the devil incarnate. If they play by their stalker’s twisted rules, some of them might just survive. But there’s more to Frank Snow than the naked eye can see . . . or the sane mind can bear.


Last year I was introduced to Joe Schreiber's debut novel Chasing the Dead, by chance as I took advantage of a specially priced hardcover. I'm glad that I took that chance because it wound up being one of the best debuts that I read last year.

Richard K. Morgan's antihero Takeshi Kovacs returns in Woken Furies, the followup to the excellent Altered Carbon and Broken Angels.

In the far-future on Harlan's World, Kovacs licks his wounds in a dive bar. After stepping in to defend a woman from a pair of zealot priests and running afoul of the local yakuza, Kovacs is forced to depart for (not much) greener pastures. Having fallen in with the woman and her mercenary companions, Kovacs realizes his problems are only just beginning: The mysterious woman's dual identities, remnants of ancient artificial intelligence on Harlan's World, and even a younger version of Kovacs himself has been sent to kill him.

As with the previous books, the mix of cyberpunk and scifi is effectively done and Morgan has a great eye for action and gritty detail. However, some background on the DeCom/mimint conflict might have helped early on in the story. Additionally, the plot thread concerning Kovacs' younger double feels a bit tacked-on and doesn't build up to much.

Nonetheless, Woken Furies should please the current Kovacs fans and recruit new ones.

No Dominion, the second book in the Joe Pitt Casebooks series by Charlie Huston, kicks off right in the middle of things with Pitt and his girlfriend Evie at a bar. Pitt is getting beat pretty handily by another vampyre. This shouldn't be happening because as has been hinted at in the past and will be explored later on in more detail, the older vampyres aren't easily beaten and Pitt has been around. It turns out that there is a new drug hitting the vampyre community especially the younger ones that gives its users a radical high but also crazed super human strength, even by vampyre standards. Pitt goes to long time acquaintance and one time friend Terry, the head of Coalition with this discovery. Terry hires Pitt to investigate the influx of drugs into their neighborhood. Like Captain Willard this investigation will send him uptown into the dark heart of Hood territory, and beyond. By the end of the novel there will be revelations and tough decisions to be made.

By the end of Already Dead Huston had given us the lay of the land. We were given details on three of the major Clans: Coalition, Society and Enclave. The other major Clan, The Hood, was mentioned but wasn't explored in any great detail only appearing on the periphery. Probably recognizing this Huston has moved them to the forefront of the action this time around. For a group whose importance is central to the history of the Clans, specifically how they are divided, it was necessary for them to have the spotlight at some point.

At one point in the novel Pitt goes to see Daniel, the head of Enclave, the meta-physical Vampyre Clan, to have some of his questions answered. When he leaves he says this: “Daniel. Gonna have to talk to him some more. Jesus. Ask him a question and all he does is kick up more dust. But it is interesting dust." Well this is how I feel about Huston, he answers some questions directly, he's vague on others and you always come away with more of them then when you went to him.

Pitt's relationship with Evie continues to grow. It’s been three years for them and as her HIV continues to get worse and his unwillingness to be completely honest with her about what he does creates tension in the relationship one quickly realizes that they are headed for a reckoning. It may not happen in Already Dead, it may not happen in No Dominion but it will happen at some point. Their relationship and this impending impasse continue to fascinate. The moral dilemmas that are presented are complex and provide no easy answers. Of all the on going subplots in the Joe Pitt Casebooks this may very well be the most interesting, it haunts and fascinates long after the covers are closed.

For the most part Already Dead was expository; with a lot of the detailed background information out of the way No Dominion is a leaner, meaner story. Given Huston's writing style and the average length of the books it is to his credit that he assumes one has read Already Dead first, allowing No Dominion to grown in stature as it stands on the shoulders of the previous book not wasting precious time and space rehashing things already discussed.

Following the episodic template of Already Dead, No Dominion is a fully contained story finding resolution by the end. However Huston never forgets to advance the larger story at hand. It's that shadow story that really starts to reveal itself on repeated readings. It's apparent that he has a firm grasp on that overall story and all of the story arcs that it encompasses.

No Dominion is still highly successful at continuing to walk that fine line of cross-genre writing. The balance of the writing never fails to impress and never falters for the duration of the novel. Huston is the real deal in a world of sometimes derivative fiction. He continues to challenge readers and deserves the largest possible audience. His stories are action packed and they present moral dilemmas that don’t offer easy resolution, you may disagree with how he handles a situation but you will never be disappointed. I’ve said it before and it bears repeating, the Joe Pitt casebooks is one of the most continually compelling series being written in fiction today.

--Brian Lindenmuth

Charlie Huston’s third novel, Already Dead, is the first novel in a long time to make me lose sleep. That’s a good thing by the way. There is nothing quite like being solidly in the grip of an excellent novel. The narrator and main character Joe Pitt is cut from the classic mold of all the great PI’s except for one thing, he is a Vampyre. Forget everything you know about vampires as the tale is finally brought kicking and screaming into the 21st century and treated with modern sensibilities.

New York is teeming with Vampyres that are divided into major clans. We have The Coalition (the oldest, largest and most powerful of the Clans), The Society (made up of several smaller groups that stand in direct opposition to the Coalition. The two Clans are openly hostile to one another, existing in a state of cold war), The Enclave (a small, but powerful metaphysical cult. Also the most feared clan, given the choice between facing the sun or an Enclave member most Vampyres would choose to go to the beach), and The Hood (whose membership is almost entirely non-white and are committed to the overthrow of the Coalition by any means necessary). His oldest “friend” Terry leads the Society, he does occasional work for the Coalition and has a mysterious relationship with Daniel, the leader of Enclave, who seems to act as Pitts sometimes consigliore. There are also Rogues which are smaller sets or individuals who disavow affiliation with the larger clans or in some cases want to join them. All of these groups are given individual identities and histories. It’s clear from the beginning that Huston has created a complete world with hints of appropriate depth that the first book in a projected 5 book series should have.

Joe Pitt is a freelancer for these clans but with no strong affiliation with any of them. This puts Joe in a tough position and a lot of tough situations as he works two cases that eventually merge and tries to play all sides to his best advantage. The environment that Huston creates is not only well developed but also realistic. Like Huston's other crime novels the dialogue is tough as stone and machine-gun fast, in the tradition of the great hard-boiled novels, but also believable. Already Dead skins the dead hide of the traditional vampire story and puts a more realistic spin on the mythos that we are all so familiar with.

The Vampyre world of Already Dead is treated as a rationalized fantasy where everything is given a scientific or pseudo scientific explanation, there is only one “creature” that is left unexplained by the end. Vampires aren't blood sucking creatures of the night they are smart organized creatures who don't want to alert the general public to their existence and are wary of anything or anyone who will draw attention to them. The vampires on the lower end of the food chain are treated more like junkies then a mythical creature.

Not just happy to effectively combine a PI tale and Vampire story Huston audaciously adds zombies into the mix. Even these well worn character types are treated with a new understanding, creatures who suffer from a different virus but possibly a relative strain of The Vyrus. Zombies, or Shamblers, as they're called in the book are hunted and killed by The Clans when they make an appearance because The Clans don’t want the unnecessary attention that their indiscriminant killing brings. Here is the explanation for Zombies:

At times it wears its ironic sensibilities proudly as it gleefully skewers any and all conventions that the vampire mythos has from movies, books and TV shows. The characters are all self-consciously aware of all the conventions and their own “fictional” history so they take a perverse delight in poking them full of holes and have fun with the people who believe in them. Here is one example:

This alludes to the central moral dilemma of the story. Pitt is in a relationship, he has had a girlfriend, Evie, for about two years, she doesn’t know anything about what he does or who he his. She has AIDS and is HIV positive. She refuses to have sex with him because of her disease and he’s OK with that rule. But he has full knowledge that The Vyrus is stronger than the HIV and AIDS and if he infected her that The Vyrus would scour her blood and cure her. This would of course turn her into a Vampyre. Does he watch her die or does he cure her? Only time will tell. The scenes with Evie also provide some of the more touching moments of the book.

As with the first volume of a series it tends to be introductory, historical and largely expository. But the compelling nature of the world we’re being introduced to coupled with the action packed story line make this story fully satisfying. Also in line with its first book status it asks more far reaching questions then the ones it answers and it’s the answers to those questions that are going to make me tap my sock-less foot as I anxiously await further installments. The next book should prove to be the interesting one because the larger story arcs should progress now that the exposition is out of the way. One of the strengths of the novel and the potential strength of the series is that Huston has a lot if not all of it mapped out and knows where it’s going. In fact you can go to Charlie Huston's website and see portions of what he calls the Joe Pitt Bible, which contains character & Clan bios and some “rules” of the world. But don’t let the brevity of the book fool you, it is packed with a depth that some larger books can’t muster. Also due to the astonishing pace of the book it becomes hard to keep track of everything and like all good books it holds up to repeated readings.

Unlike other novels that purport to mix the fantastic or supernatural with the mystery novel Already Dead is a pitch perfect hard-boiled private eye tale first and a tale of the fantastic second, which isn’t to diminish the supernatural aspects, trust me they are there. This is the quality that in and of itself separates it from the pack. Most tales born of this hybrid are Fantasies told in a Mystery setting instead of a Mystery told in a Fantasy setting. It might not seem like there is much of a difference but they are in fact worlds apart. When a writer of fantasy creates the characters or worlds in which this hybrid tale is told it is often times perceived by readers of mysteries as the work of a dilettante, someone wanting only to infuse the fantasy genre with something different. But the "different" in question is in all actuality something that is commonplace, after all mystery novels, in all shapes and forms, represent a sizable portion of the market. Without much exertion one could easily name tropes and clichés of that genre as well as the icons and more popular examples.

One has to recognize that not unlike other genres the mystery genre has its own sub-genres and each of these sub-genres has its own style, tone, feel and rules. A police procedural reads NOTHING like a thriller or a cozy, nor would you want it to. So, the fantasy author in question needs to carefully choose what type of mystery story that they want to meld with their fantasy creation, and then seamlessly blend the two. This is not easy to do, especially so that EVERYONE is happy, mystery and fantasy fans alike. Often books of this nature miss more then they hit. But the interesting thing about this is that the readers aren't always aware of the misses. If the fantasy reader isn't aware of the false notes that the police procedural portion of the story isn't ringing true then it doesn't deter them from enjoying the fantasy story at hand which is still different from other fantasy tales out there, which again was probably the point.

However, when a tale is crafted though that rings true on all counts, both fantasy and mystery, then what you have in your hands is not regarded as a novelty but instead a rarity and a classic as well. Already Dead is just such a book. You could easily hand the book to a mystery fan and they would recognize and claim it as one of their own, now it would be prudent to recognize Huston's pedigree in the genre, namely the now completed Hank Thompson trilogy, though that alone wouldn't facilitate the allegiance. You could also give the book to a fantasy or horror fan and they too would claim it as one of their own. Perhaps the most important thing for just such a work would be that they would all be correct.

In recent years, under various names, there has been a new breed of fiction published. Cross pollinating freely among the genres to create something new. Already Dead is not only a perfect example of what can be accomplished with this technique but it also serves as a picture perfect example of the down side of cross genre writing. It SHOULD appeal to fans of dark fantasy, fantasy, horror, science fiction, PI and noir. But it fell through the cracks and nobody read it. It got a nominal amount of press in mystery circles based on Huston’s Hank Thompson trilogy, but in other genre circles, not much. I’m familiar with the praise surrounding George R R Martins Song of Ice and Fire series and Steven Erikson’s Book of the Fallen series and others, and that praise IS deserving but don’t miss out on this opportunity to start reading what could, when all is said and done, wind up being one of the great series of the decade. It should serve as an interesting counter point to those two series for a purely aesthetic reason, the total page count of the 5 book series will probably be around 1300 pages whereas Martins books average a little over 800 pages PER VOLUME.


-Brian Lindenmuth

"Looking For Jake", China Mieville's first short story collection, is a departure from his previous works set in the world of Bas-Lag (Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council), albeit with one exception. The collection gathers together 14 tales by Mieville that are mostly set in the "real world" setting of London and surrounds, but are hardly constrained by their setting.

The collection barely exceeds 300 pages and few of the stories run beyond 30 pages, but this is no mark against the majority of the stories here, as Mieville's fine eye for the darkness that lurks just beneath the everyday world (as with his first novel King Rat) works to great effect. In particular, I rather enjoyed the following tales:

"Foundation" concerns a mysterious man known as the "house whisperer" who is haunted by voices and images as he inspects buildings for structural integrity.

"The Ball Room", a collaboration by Mieville and two others, is an eerie tale set in an Ikea-like furniture store that features a play area for children.

"Different Skies" follows an elderly man who discovers that the new window he has installed gives quite an unexpected view.

Additionally, Mieville makes a brief return to Bas-Lag with "Jack", an account of the exploits of the mysterious "Jack Half-A-Prayer". His excellent novella "The Tain" is also included as a finale to the collection.

Overall, "Looking For Jake" is a worthwhile read for any Mieville fans as well as those new to his work. However, I can't honestly say the quality is uniform throughout. Some of the stories (in particular "Reports of Certain Events In London" and "Entry Taken From A Medical Encyclopaedia" didn't really catch my interest as I would have hoped, which dragged the collection down a bit in my opinion. I wouldn't call that a death blow to the collection as a whole, because there are a number of fine stories like the ones mentioned previously that make it more than worth the read.

Bugs. Why did it have to be bugs? Why not more Vong? Or even the Ssi-Ruk? Anything but bugs.

It’s been five years since the end of the Vong War. The galaxy is breathing a collective sigh and trying to slit each others throats all at the same time. There’s a shortage of habitable planets (thanks to the Vong’s terraforming skills) so real estate has a high price. And many are fighting to defend what they already have. This is the basic backdrop of the Dark Nest trilogy. The Chiss are trying to defend their systems from an invasion of creepy crawlers.

To complicate things, the bugs have the ability to influence others (as in humans), including Jedi. Combine this power with their “hive mind” skills and trouble starts brewing faster. The old Jedi (Han, Leia, Luke, and crew) chase the younger Jedi (Jacen, Jaina, and crew) into the hive. It appears the bugs wanted some mammalian company.

What I enjoyed most about this story was the apparent attempt to keep the spirit of the New Jedi Order books. As in nobody is safe. Somebody might die on the next page. Somebody big. And I like that. Combine that with a dash of Jacen’s display of Force powers and you’ve got a good little treat for the six legged monsters. And to finish it off, the Jedi have changed their philosophy about the Force into something more logical. It’s not the action that’s evil, it’s the intent. Killing someone to kill them is evil. Killing them to save someone is justified.

What bugged me most was the bugs. There were time I felt like driving to the store to buy a can of Raid so I can spray my lawn, just so I could have the pleasure of watching them crawl to their deaths. Feeding upon my hatred of bugs was the difficulty I had in believing them to be characters in the story. I guess I’m a bi-pedal kind of guy. And at times the book slowed down to a crawl slower than an ant with a brick on his back.

Overall, it’s a decent read. I’ve read some of Troy’s other work, including 'Waterdeep', 'Shadowdale', and his four Star Wars titles. But I’m sad to say I don’t see this as one of his better works. He did have me jumping on my seat at times in frustration (I really wanted some of those critters squished), but I just had a feeling that his heart wasn’t in it at times. And the end felt like an end. Almost like it was a stand alone novel. I will buy the rest of the series and read them, but I’ll have to find some motivation to get excited about the next installment. Maybe that Bug-Be-Gone will help.

Neil@TK42ONE.com
©2005 TK42ONE.com Productions

_{Fantasybookspot - fantasy book reviews and fantasy book author interviews}

Once again, you'll have to go and read the synopsis for yourself. BUT,
I can assure you there are elfstones in the book.

This has to be my favorite of all the Shannara books. Why, you might be asking? None of your business... no, wait. Sorry, medications kicking in.

While all of the Shannara books try to create senses of loneliness, fear, panic, urgency, or horror depending on the situation, this book managed to convey all of that through most of the book. I'm not talking serious fright fest here folks, but the atmosphere of terror is portrayed nicely.

The second book in the Sword of Shannara Trilogy does not necessarily follow the same pattern that the rest of the Shannara books are famous for. Sure, there is a party full of all kinds of elves and druids and people and what not, but fairly soon, they all get gloriously ripped apart.

This was the first book I ever read that caused me to say "Holy freakin' monkey on a stick, that has to hurt" in a public setting. It is a horroristic (is that a word?) fantasy novel, but it's not just horror for horror's sake. There's a reason why people are dying gruesomely and its not because the book is written for people who like gruesome books. Don't get me wrong, it's not all doom and gloom. Every story has heroes and this one has a few that you will love to cheer for.

While this may not be the best written story out there it's most definately a farther cry from the "Dude, this is so the Lord of the Rings" complaints you'll hear about the Sword of Shannara.

To be honest, I think everybody should read the whole Trilogy.. in school.. and they should all have to write 3 page long essays about it. Not because it's some great masterpiece of fiction, but because it is why so many people read: fun.
Yes, read this book. No, don't just buy one copy, buy many. After all, you don't want your slacker friends borrowing your only prized copy trashing it like they did with your coveted Friends 2nd season DvD collection. I'd say go ahead and get the whole trilogy in the nice hardcover book thingy, it's cheap. Ok, enough ranting. I'm out.

_{Fantasybookspot - fantasy book reviews and fantasy book author interviews}

Switching it up this time to a review of the first book of one of the more worthwhile epic fantasy series being written at the moment, ‘The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone’, by Greg Keyes. Those unfamiliar with this series or think perhaps they have not read Greg’s work may have read other fine efforts by him like the ‘Age of Unreason’ series or perhaps Waterborn or Blackgod under the name J. Gregor Keyes. Viable and worthwhile epic fantasy has become more and more of a chore to find for some time now for me, however a few authors are keeping us on our toes with current series like George RR. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire, ‘R. Scott Bakker’s ‘Prince