The Shadow Pavilion, the fourth in the Detective Inspector Chan adventures certainly carries through with the promise of an entertaining read. DI Chen, Shanghai Three’s Police Liaison with Heaven and Hell, is after whatever group is illegally bringing in residents of Hell as cheap labor. He has two of the best working on it when they disappear. Seneschal Zhu Irzh is not only a demon but a terrific operative in his own right and was sent in with Badger, who can take care of himself. Now Chen has to find out where they’ve gone and still get to the bottom of the issue. It doesn’t help when he finds out that the newly crowned Celestial Emperor is under an attempted assassination and that a shortcutting scriptwriter has imported a Tiger demon to impersonate a movie star and that she is now on the loose and in a starlet-sized snit.

Liz Williams has created an interestingly enjoyable fantasy/scifi/adventure. This one sort of defies classification as Singapore Three is futuresque but with her addition of the realms of Hell and Heaven and all their dream- and nightmarescape denizens, the tale takes on a mythological bent that makes for fascinating reading. She has begun to flesh out some of the secondary characters more – we get to see from the perspective of Badger, a Hellish family familiar with fierce loyalties to Chen and his wife; we also get a little more perspective from the Celestial Emperor; as well as Chen’s wife Inari. As usual we have some new secondary characters, new demons, foolish humans, and the most successful assassin of all time to keep us amused.

With all due speed Williams draws us into the intrigue, imbuing our imaginations with vivid images full of color and scent that make her stories come alive. With this descriptive skill she lures us in. Then, like the sticky strands of a spider’s web, we get trapped and held by a story that is so full of life we cannot even decide what to call it. Is it futuristic police procedural? Is it an allegorical fairy tale? Near future occult? Perhaps an alternative historical fantasy? Whatever you would like to call it, I’ll just call it something I want more of. Fans of the previous three will not be disappointed.

A terrorist attack on San Francisco kicks off this Young Adult novel by Cory Doctorow. Marcus Yallow and his friends are playing an interactive scavenger hunt game and end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of their number is injured and when they flag down the police, they find themselves under arrest and taken to a secret prison where they're interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security. Once released, Marcus uses his technology skills to become and activist, which makes him Public Enemy Number One, as he attempts to regain the city and the freedom that he used to know.

This novel is particularly compelling because it isn't far-fetched. When a government and its people gives terrorists the power to disrupt their lives, the changes that a governing body can institute and the people will tolerate in the name of safety can become shocking. The majority of the technology in the novel already exists in some form, even if it isn't yet as sophisticated or widely-used as in the book. The leaps for the techonolgy in the book aren't unreasonable and have probably already been developed, but haven't been released to the general public. Interestingly enough, the chief tool for the subversion of the government are xBoxes that have been hacked.

Marcus is a compelling character because if he hadn't been so mistreated, he wouldn't have become so active in attempting to bring down the Department of Homeland Security. He isn't stupid, nor does he seem particularly lazy, he's just a kid, doing the kind of things expected from a typical teenaged geek with free time on his hands. He's a little selfish and a bit vindictive, but he's a highly realistic character. Many very significant social movements were founded on a similar vindictive dissident basis.

Cory Doctorow also provides afterwords and a bibliography for those who want to learn more about the technology involved in the book and the ideas presented. The book mentions Abbie Hoffman and the Yippie movement, as well as civil rights groups, and some very poignant quotes from the Constitution. The book never become preachy, it has a point and the author is never shy about reminding the reader what that point is, but there is still so much action, reaction, and character growth that it doesn't feel as if it's an adamant statement. This is the kind of book meant to get people thinking and talking, and it certainly offers a great deal of food for thought.

Technology can sometimes be off-putting in fiction. If an author has to take a long tangent in order to explain how things work or how and why the technology was developed, the plot and characterizatino can often suffer. Sometimes, techno-babble can cause readers to lose interest, especially if they're unfamiliar with slang or jargon that is being used. "Little Brother" doesn't suffer from these problems. The technology isn't inacessible and through various plot devices it's easily and neatly explained enough to help the reader understand what is happening.

The bigger point, though, is at what point trading privacy for safety needs to be stopped. "Little Brother" is being marketed as Young Adult, but I believe that adult readers would gain just as much, if not more, benefit from reading this book. Anyone who has concerns over the amount of power the Department of Homeland Security has been granted or about the Patriot Act should definitely get a hold of a copy of "Little Brother" and then start sharing it with their friends. Some adults are certainly part of the problem in the book, but not all adults are the issue. There are very specific villains in this book, which gives it a more balanced view than it might have had.

It's an excellent, thought-provoking read, and I would recommend it to just about everyone.

We awaken with Tynan Llywelyn from a hundred year's Sleep. Tynan is no Rip Van Winkle, however, but a powerful vampire who is not eager to return to the vampire community who shunned him. The world that greets him is vastly different than what he left behind. Society has crumbled and humanity is being controlled by a domineering techno-government called the Tyst. A small group of rebels, the Phuree, are fighting back as best they can. The Phuree have taken a radical step in allying themselves with the Predators who feed off them - the vampires. Tynan finds himself embroiled in a power struggle between vampire and human players alike.

I knew I was in for an incredible read when I became captivated by the Acknowledgments page. Ms. Faust's talents as a wordsmith far surpass anything I have read in some time. Her depiction of vampires is a delicious exquisiteness that at times had me running my tongue over my teeth to insure fangs had not appeared! She creates these beings with a deft hand, stitching common myths together with her singularly modern twist, providing a seamless and completely believable existence.

Next to such thoroughly real characters, the Tyst and Phuree pale by comparison. The Tyst are nameless and faceless; although characters are mentioned we never really get to know them. These are the Big Bad Guys, yet they seem completely untouchable and almost nonexistent. The Phuree are also a bit out of reach. Teirnan, their leader, and his sister Khanna are stereotypical and rather predictable. They appear small and ineffective somehow. This book is the first in a series, however, so perhaps the next installment will focus more on the other characters. If Faust can bring them to reality as she has her vampires, this will be a knockdown-dragout favorite!

The overall sensation of the story is very focused on Tynan, his tough and (unusual for the Living Dead) his emotions. In fact, Tynan's emotions are a pivotal point of the entire storyline. Faust captured his moral writhing quite well. He is struggling with a moral crisis, one that led him to abandon his Dark Brethren and sink into Eternal Sleep. But his despair only kept him for one hundred years, not forever. With prose the texture of deep velvet, Faust draws us down to the depths of a story as old as fear, as dark as sin, and as deep as Satan's heart. The lines between friend and foe are re-drawn. She captures desperate obsession and hunger, outlining each with the passion for existence that burns in all beings.

In spite of a lack of character development in some areas, I was very impressed with Gabrielle Faust and Eternal Vigilance. I eagerly devoured the book from cover to cover in one sitting and felt bereft when I was finished. This is not an airy-fairy, "rescue the damsel"-type of story. Gritty and dark, readers will begin to understand the "un"life of a vampire.

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!

Small Favor, the 10th book in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files is another tale full of Harry Dresden’s wisecracking and wizardry. In this episode, Harry has been recruited by Mab, Queen of Winter to find and rescue the mob boss, Johnny Marcone. This is a job Harry would never take, except for the fact that he is in debt to Winter and must do it despite his reservations. Regardless of the fact that Harry is being harassed by minions of the Summer Court and that whoever kidnapped Marcone was not only a professional but very powerful, Harry is now on the case.

Asking questions of the right people, Harry discovers who has kidnapped the crime lord and is forced by Marcone’s people to set up a neutral meeting between his abductors and Marcone’s seconds. Macrons’ abductors are none other than the Knights of the Blackened Denarius, mages who have been possessed by fallen angels. Talks of this sort need neutral ground and a neutral negotiator. Harry decides that a meeting this dangerous requires a powerful negotiator and calls in the Archive, the living repository of all knowledge. Getting this sort of meeting set up while being stalked by Queen Titania’s enforcers taxes Harry’s resources. Living through the talks could be even harder.

I find that I enjoy this series for several reasons. The largest of those reasons is Butcher’s voice. Undoubtedly, his characters are of a sort who have lives that readers love to follow. I even find his secondary characters to be fascinating. Bob, Mouse and Mister are some of my favorites, and I love to hear about them. His fantasy Chicago, full of hidden magic and faerie creatures is also very compelling to us mortals stuck in our mundane lives. However, it is his voice that brings it all to life. The character dialog, Harry’s internal dialog, and his pop culture reference riddled descriptions make this reader feel as if the story was written specifically for me. If Mike Hammer was a wizard living in modern-day Chicago and had a fondness for sarcasm and snappy comebacks, his name would be Harry Dresden.

Butcher’s fans will definitely devour this one just like the last nine. It has all the elements, danger, magic, romantic undertones, wisecracks, a multitude of pop culture references, evil beasties and arrogant bad guys, mayhem, threats, faeries, vampires and even the billy goats gruff. Seriously, they are there, I kid you not (pun intended).

I was introduced to Jonathan Carroll through the insistence of two strangers. I’m not known to listen to people, indeed I’m a scoffer, but they wanted to be called Wiz and Grub – and since those are of my two favorite things to do I thought they may have been on to something. You add that one knew the Condor Man uniform on sight and the other had reading list that peaked curiosity itself (not just my own) and you had the beginnings of a recommendation that would be followed through. Some years – and what seems like a couple lifetimes later – Jonathan Carroll is one of those authors whose books I buy. That may seem anticlimactic, but Carroll is one of, and perhaps the first writer who went on that list of “all I need to know is that the book is out” authors. I don’t need to know what it’s about, I don’t need to know where or when it takes place, I don’t need to know if it’s called fantasy, mystery, horror or science fiction – because such questions, such words, cannot contain Carroll. Instead Carroll carries Liza’s bucket of pandora paint adding a stroke with a brush here, there and where.

Frannie McCabe is the chief of police in Crane’s View, New York a town he grew up in and the town he’d happily die in if given the chance, not that death was something that was on his mind until the death of an odd dog that he took in at his office. A dog that like McCabe has the marks of a creature that lived – not just existed – and upon its death he took it upon himself to bury ‘Old Vertue”. A small town, a veteran sheriff, a dead dog – it has the makings of a western or a bad country song. At an rate, the death of the dog, the disappearance of a couple in his town, a girl found dead in the school bathroom, his step-daughter’s new tattoo disappearing - the aroma of change in the air would set McCabe on a whimsical story where he will attempt to connect dots while retracing his steps. Like time travel stories? How about a story that captures the scent of American Pie? About love, family, a coming of age story and a going of age story. When you don’t have to meet yourself to disrupt the space-time continuum, but you may have to hang out with him and perhaps more than anything it presents the idea that there would be value in asking your prior self – a unique individual – questions to see the actions of that person and learn something is not just a cog in the present cumulative. If one could point at a fault there is a point where you think McCabe is going nowhere, where Carroll couldn’t seem to bring a conclusion big enough to pay-off everything he introduced. It may even seem – in reflection – a great opportunity for a more than quaint fictional work without Science Fiction and Fantasy elements missed. What I think actually occurs is that we see a reasonable and competent man by most standards completely functioning as a man we would rationally think would in an irrational – a magical - situation. So many times in fiction we are shown protagonists who become so by acclimating themselves, to rise to the occasion. To become something they aren’t and never were – something nobody could possibly be. In many cases there may be fall to overcome as well, but routinely we are described this relying on our preconditioned acceptance of this due to exposure in rather flat fiction. Carroll does not stumble in tying up The Wooden Sea, Frannie does, and related to that the end of such experiences are not end of eras in any way a calendar would understand. The Science Fiction element – a universal awakening – is so over the top for the a Sheriff of an escapist-alcove American town that you can feel the gravity of just how beyond being simply odd or disconcerting such situation would be. You would attack this how you know how – with McCabe, the experiences of a hell raiser as a child, a Vietnam Vet, a veteran of couple of marriages, who lives a more than stable life and now respected in the town he once was once ‘that kid’ of. Frannie is a man who had gone through his ‘cycle’ only to be thrown into something bigger. It is not because he does not have the qualities to identify him as heroic; it is that rarely do we describe the day-to-day, handle shit as it happens manner as such. He is not offered a mantle, he is, when looking back on his life a man with an understanding of service and what we have is a man who doesn’t have all the answers, indeed he doesn’t even know all the questions. For the fantastic to have an effect, you have to establish a base that we recognize and Carroll nails the towns so many of us live(ed) in. Where reputations matter, where people never seem to get away from – and if they do, everybody can recite you the specifics of it. Where downtown is distinguishable only because it has been always been called that, where you’re Smith’s daughter or boy. Where I certainly have no interest in going to such a place now, perhaps the person I will be one day will. It is in such places that America really resides:

From the beginning Carroll confounds us and it’s not just a mysterious 3-legged dog – man’s best friend – that enters his life. We are introduced to McCabe spouting one-liners, a wife and step-child showing up at the job with jibes and apparent issues and instead of getting a fractured soul, another broken cop getting by on booze – he did keep his smokes – that lives only to confound the world set against him we get a happy man, a loving husband, a pillar of the community, and man who is where he wants to be. We find a man not looking for anything, but not to the extreme of a man who fears what he may find – he has found what he wants. We are shown choices we can believe. What would you make god do to prove his power? What would you learn if you observed your father when he wasn’t at the moment being your father? What would you want to tell him? In the midst of events of global, and even universal gravity, McCabe is in his hood and confronting these opportunities as if they were what really mattered. So many times, we are told the world is worth saving in fiction, even if grudgingly, and in The Wooden Sea we see why McCabe’s world is. More than that, I’m not a reader who views it as a requirement of the author to make me root for the protagonist of a story to enjoy it, indeed even in my most get-along-gang of moods it’s still a quality that I can’t completely reconcile as not being a least a little slow, but obviously that isn’t to say such stories don’t often represent the best fiction has to offer and one would find it hard not to find some part of McCabe’s journey that is not relatable, that doesn’t at least brush up against something you carry.

The Wooden Sea shares characteristics with others Carroll books in that he rarely puts a new spin on genre conventions it just always seems like his is the right one we had yet to see, as if others were suddenly a heart beat off, a turn of phrase too early, a sentiment missed. There is also a clarity to Carroll’s work that I think is rather distinct. The Wooden Sea’s brand of wonder is one that questions what you see, feel and believe but never what you are actually reading. In fiction we are sometimes – I think – too enamored with stylistic conceit, and I while I agree with Hal Duncan in that style is substance in literature – but Carroll’s style somehow morphs into what should be fashion at the moment of reading instead of vying for next. I always marvel most at writers who are able to present several stories – many completely different thematically and even in tone –that don’t take away from one another in the absence of recognition. When I interviewed the wonderful Kelly Link she spoke of stories that could be read and reveal something new – a story that grows – and The Wooden Sea leaves more trees to climb, more secrets submerged.

The Wooden Sea is perhaps not Carroll’s most recommended work, but is still a notable chapter in the body of work of somebody who is in the argument of being the most noteworthy American Fantasist today.

So take a ride on a bicycle, grab an oar and watch yourself fly.

Jay Tomio
The Bodhisattva

The government of 2057 is regretting the deregulation of time travel as private companies deluge the past with tourists. As the delicate web of history flexes under the weight of interference from the future, Jacynda struggles to locate the man who made time travel a reality - Harter Defoe. Cynda’s friends Dr. Allistair and Detective Keats also continue their struggles with Victorian Transitives and a mysterious bloody murder. The stakes are high as Jacynda and her companions attempt to fulfill their duties. With Keat’s life on the line and Jacynda facing eternity in prison if they fail, the odds have never looked worse.

Jana C. Oliver has crafted a sequel that packs a whallop! Virtual Evil is a sensory overload of spine tingling adventure and mind-tickling wit. I absolutely love how she has deepened the characters in this second book. Dr. Allistair and Keats come alive here, standing aside Jacynda as they struggle to put the pieces together in this inventive mystery. Oliver splits her focus between these three characters, yet is able to maintain the momentum and tension in the tale. The action is non-stop as readers follow all three in their struggles to identify an invisible killer that can take on the image of anyone.

If anything, Virtual Evil is even more complex than the first book in the Time Rovers series, Sojourn. Oliver builds the suspense and intrigue, causing readers to doubt the integrity of just about everyone. Not knowing who to trust is one of my favorite aspects of this story. I am also impressed with her concept of time travel as she fills in even more details for readers. In fact, the only weakness I see in the story is the role of government as the Big Bad Brother looking over Jacynda’s shoulder. I feel the writing on that aspect is a bit clichéd and is the only predictable part of this book. However, this did not interrupt my enjoyment of a thoroughly rolicking tale.

Readers, please prepare for this book by reading the first in the series and then jump into this second story. Hopefully, we will not have long to wait to find out just what befalls our heroine and her two companions after the cliffhanger ending of Virtual Evil. I promise you will be breathless waiting for the third book, Madman’s Dance, to arrive sometime in the fall of 2008.

Aliens are living among us. Not the freaky, slimy type of aliens depicted in Men in Black but humanoid beings with abilities beyond us. Each faction, the Greens and the Grays, are refugees from the same world and believe the other group was destroyed. They sought asylum in New York along with millions of other refugees that flooded Ellis Island during the early 20th century. The fragile peace that existed when each thought they were alone while hiding among the human population is now threatened when the Greens stumble upon the Grays.

Roger and Caroline Whittier, a run-of-the-mill human couple, find themselves thrust into the midst of this conflict when they stumble upon young Melanthe Green running for her life. Factions working for peace between the two groups have decided on a strategy to appease everyone. Unfortunately for Melanthe, this strategy is that a Peace Child will be sacrificed - her. The Whittier’s efforts to help her bring each of them out of their self-imposed yuppiedom and challenge their beliefs about each other.

This is not a story about aliens, per se, nor is it the usual space opera that I have come to associate with Timothy Zahn. The focus is really on diplomacy and groups of different types of people getting along with each other. (Although a little twist is thrown in at the end, which I refuse to go into as it would be a spoiler.) Regardless, there are plenty of explosions and shootings, conspiracy and cloak-and-dagger, to reassure me that Mr. Zahn didn’t stray too far afield.

While there are many characters in this book, almost too many, Mr. Zahn still finds time to develop the main ones. I like that Roger Whittier is completely normal yet finds this tremendous strength in himself to do amazing things, even so far as to attempt to broker a peace deal with all the grace and dignity of a UN diplomat (think Jimmy Stuart, here). I admire Caroline for trusting herself, pushing to do the right thing and daring to care for someone who is very different from herself. Most of all, I enjoyed how the two of them are thrust out of the doldrums of their relationship and learn to understand how the other one thinks. In fact, of all the books I have read lately, this one strikes me as having the potential to make a very good movie.

I enjoyed this book because it is different from anything I have read lately. Mr. Zahn has an ability to keep the pace of the story climbing throughout, making it difficult to set the book down until you are finished. I really thought his concept about the Greens and the Grays being . . . Oops, almost forgot - can’t give anything away! I know I will read this book again. Well done, Mr. Zahn.

Jude Allman has been hiding a very long time. Jude has a secret. He was once very famous for doing something he had no control over. In fact, he did it three times. Jude died - and then came back to life. The notoriety he gathered, plus the fact he had no idea how it happened, drove him into seclusion. This period of seclusion has now come to a screaming halt, literally.

The Hunter, as he likes to call himself, enjoys stalking little girls. He revels in the hunt and kills them when the thrill is finished. As the Hunter’s activities escalate, Jude begins to realize he may have the power to stop the abductions. When the Hunter gets too close to those Jude loves, then he knows he must act.

T.L. Hines gives us a new and completely different angle to the idea of near-death experiences. This is a suspense-driven novel that at it’s core examines the concept that some people are here for a specific purpose. While it took a few pages for the story to get moving, once it did the author was able to keep the momentum building. The point of view shifts between several characters, effectively hiding the identity of the Hunter until the very end.

I enjoyed reading this book as much as T.L. Hines’ second story - The Dead Whisper On. Both books are published by Bethany House, a company that focuses on fictional stories with a spiritual twist. Mr. Hines definitely accomplishes this with Waking Lazarus. The reader is guided blindly through the minds of the characters, wondering which one is the Hunter. I found myself flipping back and forth, trying to match clues mentioned before with what I was reading at the time and attempt to nail the bad guy.

Although filled with suspense and some violence, this is not something that should cause nightmares for the faint at heart (like me!) In addition, while the story skirts the edge of believability, it doesn’t defy the theology of the mainstream believer. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable read from a new author. I will be impatiently awaiting the third story from Mr. Hines. I do not think he will disappoint.

A condemned man known only as Prisoner Zero. A Chinese emperor in the distant future. A young street punk in Marrakech. These are the players in a struggle that spans space and time, a struggle that the fate of humanity will hinge upon. Stamping Butterflies chronicles the roles, no matter how small or large, they will have in deciding not only the future, but the past...

Jon Courtenay Grimwood's followup to his excellent Arabesk trilogy is at once brilliant and frustrating. Grimwood excels at depicting political intrigues and rendering locales in crystal-clear prose that lends immediacy to the streets of Marrakech or the far reaches of the 2023 worlds. Nor can his creativity or his ability with characters and dialogue be disputed.

Yet for all of Stamping Butterflies' ambition that reaches for the stars (both literal and figurative), it falls short. The three main storylines and their associated subplots never come together in a meaningful fashion - leaving the ending rather tacked-on. Furthermore, Grimwood's style of leaving blanks in the story and either filling them in gradually or leaving them for the reader to deduce - while effective at points, all too often breeds confusion here.

It is unfortunate, as there's a lot of potential here, but Stamping Butterflies ultimately can be likened to a runaway train - powerful but uncontrolled. What worked for the Arabesk books just never hits the mark on all counts here. I did enjoy certain aspects of the book in the end - but I honestly can't recommend it otherwise.

Mark. J. Ferrari's debut The Book of Joby is an inventive spin on Arthurian legend and the Biblical story of Job. As the book opens, God is offered a wager by Lucifer, with the fate of all Creation riding on the outcome. Should Lucifer win - God will be forced to unmake Creation and remake it under the guidance of Lucifer, to eliminate what Lucifer sees as flawed and corrupt including humanity itself.

The candidate personally chosen by God as the deciding factor in the wager is one Joby Peterson - a nine-year-old boy living happily unaware of the fate that rests on his shoulders and possessed of a vivid imagination fueled by a children's book of Arthurian tales.

Following a visit by God and Lucifer in his dreams, respectively disguised as King Arthur and Merlin, Joby is given to understand that he has been chosen by Arthur to "fight the devil". Unfortunately, Lucifer has stipulated that God and his angels cannot interfere with Joby's life directly or act to help him, while Lucifer is free to do whatever he likes in his attempt to push Joby over the edge, short of killing him. Thus begins Joby's transformation from a quintessential "golden boy" to a bitter and damaged man years later as Lucifer and his minions strive to win the wager in the time allotted. Joby's only hope may lie in the quiet seaside town of Taubolt on the California coast...

If The Book of Joby has a flaw, it's that a strong beginning draws the reader in quickly - depicting the wager between God and Lucifer and introducing Joby himself - a very likeable protagonist. His fantasy of being a Knight of the Round Table is touching and evokes nostalgia for the carefree days of childhood, which makes his eventual decline all the more saddening.

Ferrari's portrayal of Lucifer also provides some of the best moments of the book's first portion, as Lucifer gleefully directs his minions in various complicated schemes intended to bring about Joby's fall from grace while quarreling with God on various technicalities of the wager - which usually results in Lucifer being made to look like a buffoon.

Unfortunately, the middle portion of the book sags somewhat in comparison. The tension build-up and the charm of the first third has faded by the time Joby arrives in Taubolt, which leaves the story wanting at times. However, the final third of the book does manage to pick up the pace and concludes on a strong note.

With that said, Ferrari's attention to characters is excellent - Joby's rise and decline is expertly handled and the book is peopled with a number of other memorable characters, which does help keep the middle portion of the story a bit more interesting than it would be otherwise. The vivid detail put into the descriptions of Taubolt and surroundings is also very well-done and easily convinces one that Taubolt could be a real place.

It must also be said in Ferrari's defense that despite the subject matter, there isn't an attempt to shoehorn a religious message into the story. The religious theme is used more as a framework for the story and could have easily been interchanged with any number of mythological or wholly made-up archetypes of good and evil - and the Arthur legends interwoven with the larger story are a nice touch as well.

In conclusion, a very impressive debut that might have benefited from some further editing to cut down the length, but the prose and characterizations are outstanding otherwise.

From award-winning author Robin McKinley, creator of The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, comes a story completely different from anything she has written to date. Readers find themselves in the modern world, firmly entrenched in modern times somewhere in the mountains at Smokehill National Park, a wildlife refuge for some very wild creatures indeed.

Jake, son of the scientist who helps to run the refuge, takes us back in time to relate his adventures with Lois the dragon. Lois is a real dragon, mind you, Draco australiensis, the only true breed of dragon. Only D. australiensis breathes fire and can fly. Other breeds assumed to be dragons, such as Draco chinensis (the bearded and colorful Chinese dragon), are also kept at Smokehill because tourists are willing to pay to see them. Tourist dollars are what keep Smokehill open and provide funding to maintain the refuge for the real dragons. Unfortunately tourists are also at the root of Jake’s problem, as the reader soon finds out. Well, tourists and the government, because apparently rescuing dragons is completely and totally against the law.

The story is told from a first person point of view and the readers are taken deep within the mind of Jake as he catalogs his adventures with Lois, the baby dragon he rescues and basically adopts. This causes the story to ramble at times, mainly because of the extreme exhaustion caused by being responsible for an illegal orphan that requires twenty-four/seven supervision.

Robin McKinley is a master of her chosen art form. With a comment here and a phrase there, she builds a belief that dragons can exist in our modern world. Jake’s voice is strong and clear, his emotions raw and uncovered. He is telling the story from the present and looking back at the past, so he has a running commentary on himself and others and doesn’t hold back his criticisms.

While the rambling adds to the veracity of the tale, I began to weary of the constant interruption in the flow of the story. McKinley introduced me to a delicious form of fantasy writing with her previous works and I came to Dragonhaven with some preconceived notions about her writing. I was forced to throw those notions out the window. This is not a romantic dragon story with wizards, billowing capes, and flashing swords. This is a coming of age story, where a boy is challenged to do what is right even though it isn’t romantic or even fun.

All of that aside, while I felt disappointed in the style of the book I still finished it. I feel this is a tribute to Ms. McKinley as a writer, in that she could still keep my attention engaged even though the story wasn’t what I expected. This may not be my favorite dragon story but I feel the book will appeal to readers, especially to young readers.

Punktown, on the planet Oasis. In this sprawling metropolis, a Lovecraftian evil is stirring - spreading its shadowy tentacles through the city. When his girlfriend discovers a copy of the Necronomicon - an ancient text reputed to summon the Great Old Ones - Christopher Ruby is thrust into a nightmare as his girlfriend falls prey to the dark forces unleashed. Fleeing into Punktown's underground, he searches frantically for clues to what his girlfriend has brought into the universe...

I have to admit I had trouble rating Monstrocity. On the one hand, the setting of Punktown itself is intriguing. However, the mythos underpinning the story doesn't fare as well. I liked the ideas Thomas came up with, but in the end, it doesn't stray far from its inspiration and the story feels a bit rushed. Additionally, the writing is serviceable if rough at times.

It's unfortunate, because Thomas does have some great material to work with and an evidently fertile imagination. In the end, I'd like to rate it higher but I feel like there's potential here that was a bit wasted on a retread of Lovecraft's work. Perhaps if the book had been longer, allowing more time to build up tension and focus more on the "evil city" feeling, that could have helped.

In the end, it's a nice effort and I'm interested to read Thomas's other Punktown work to see how it compares.

Just when I think I have a handle on the magic in Elantra, Sagara throws a curve ball. By this, her third novel in the Elantra Series, she has given Kaylin healing magic and the talent to control the elemental power of fire. Now, Kaylin takes on the other elements in the face of a wizard bent on destroying everything. In the process, she discovers more about her role as Chosen as she meets an ancient dragon who has waited millennia for her.

Once again, Kaylin delves into a nonhuman society. In Cast in Secret, she works with the beings that repulse her the most - the Tha’alani. These unique people appear human-like yet they have appendages reaching from the heads like two tentacles. They use these to communicate mind-to-mind. They give Kaylin the screaming meemies. Yet, when one of their children goes missing Kaylin steps into the breach. Her journey to find the young one takes her far afield, although she never leaves the city of Elantra.

I love how Sagara layers on another fold of complexity to the character that is Kaylin. After each story, she (and we as the reader) knows a little more about herself and her personal limitations. Like us, she grows into herself a bit more each time. Here she faces prejudices deeply ingrained in her personal viewpoint of the world as she uses her detective skills to solve the kidnapping and stop the wizard.

I feel a bit like a detective myself as I piece together the information Ms. Sagara is giving us about Elantra. I would advise anyone interested in this book to read the first two books of the series, Cast in Shadow and Cast in Courtlight. Be prepared. I have begun to identify with the captor of Scheherazade in the Thousand and One Nights. Sagara is like Scheherazade. She tells one story that contains hints of the larger tale taking place. The subjects in each story are bright and crisp, yet the overarching tale itself is cloaked in mist. Using such storytelling, she lives to tell another piece of the tale tomorrow.

Sagara’s writing is not complex or intricate. Her dialogue is terse, straightforward and very witty. I find it an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon but would not say it challenges me in any way, except maybe in patience for more information. In fact, the books themselves are more like brain candy - very yummy but they don’t stay with you for long. Regardless, I still enjoy reading them.

This is the second installment in Sagara’s fantasy detective series featuring Kaylin, a woman marked for destiny yet determined to take her own path to get there. I wasn’t blown away by the first book, Cast in Shadow, feeling frustrated by the limited information Sagara dribbled out to her readers. But with Cast in Courtlight, I begin to see the overarching design she has created by developing one large plot and hanging smaller stories beneath it like ornaments on the branch of a Christmas tree. Not only do we as readers see more of Kaylin’s abilities, but we are able to delve into the most opaque of the cultures she has created - the Barranyi. Her relationships, or lack thereof, with Nightshade and Severn are also focal points. Because she builds on the knowledge gained from the first book, readers should really take the time to read both books in order.

I found this second book better written than the first. This may be because I am seeing the big picture more, but I felt I could understand why Kaylin does what she does. Once again, Sagara’s clever wit and minimalist prose deliver an enjoyable read. The story is held together with colorful characters who do and say the unexpected, reminding the reader that this is not the world in which we grew up. The protagonists are very much hidden, making Kaylin’s understanding of herself the driving force of the story. I would still like to be able to settle Elantra in a time and place, but Sagara’s lack of description in that matter merely serves to zero in on the characters themselves. Not only that, but she is stoking a hunger in her readers for more. I give in, Ms. Sagara, give me more!