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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

Tick, an introverted and intelligent young man suddenly receives a mysterious letter. By opening it, Tick launches himself on an adventure of a lifetime. Each subsequent letter holds a quirky and sometimes humorous clue, promising Tick danger if he continues and harm to others if he quits. Intrigued and compelled, he pursues each clue vigorously in spite of the risk involved. The mysterious clues drag him across the country and introduce him to a spitfire Italian girl and an all-American jock from California. Banding together, the trio commits to seeing the mystery through.

At the root of it all are concepts of time and reality, the forces that bind and drive creation. In The Thirteenth Reality, Tick discovers more than one reality exists. Life as he knows it continues in Reality Prime while as many as thirteen other Earths continue on different planes of existence. If this seems overwhelming, don’t worry. Dashner lays out his concept of parallel realities in a manner young readers can understand. Even the basis of quantum physics, aka kyoopy, becomes approachable!

I enjoy how Dashner portrays Tick’s relationship with his family. Too many times, parents are viewed as either the idiot contingency or the evil overseers. Not here. Tick’s sisters drive him nuts but he still obviously loves them. Tick’s dad is a wonderful character that supports and trusts him even though this means letting go of his little boy. In a world where Tick is often a target, at home he is safe and loved. Maybe that isn’t realistic, but who said fantasy had to be reality? Perhaps a little wishful thinking would do us all some good.

I liked this story. There are a few classic aspects that walk on stage, but these are presented in a fresh and believable manner. The evil witch (dressed in lemon), a giant with a quasi-Cockney accent, a dwarf as round as he is tall, mechanistic magic that blurs the line between technology and fantasy; all delivered in wrapping paper designed by Dashner himself. He writes in bold colors, splashing strong characters across the pages who demand your attention (and sometimes your fear).

This isn’t a sweet little fairy tale, bad things happen and our hero is faced with tough decisions. Dashner quietly leads his readers from an odd mystery into a hair-raising quest complete with flesh-eating monsters. As odd as some of the scenes are, though, the entire thing holds together. This is definitely a book young readers should sample.

My latest review is for Counting Heads by David Marusek. This is a catchy read. The story pulls up sort of like a shiny new car to whisk you off to an exotic location. It is March 30, 2092. That is announced immediately like a road sign. The technology is exotic and plentiful from the get go, so that serves as an invitation to put the imagination on cruise control, kick the seat back and enjoy the scenery that Marusek supplies along the way. Along the way he throws descriptive zingers out there that are good for a laugh. On the first page we get the line:

“Her eyes peered out at you like eels in coral.”

The use of such similes and metaphors could quickly become annoying or look like the author was stretching too far to attempt to impart wit or charm into the tale, but in the context that they arrived it seemed to me that they came with a cheerful, good natured wink.

In 2092 and 2132 technology can do almost anything. Longevity to the point of virtual immortality is prevalent. Death for the most part is an inconvenience to be managed. The affluent in society can totally manage their lives compliments of extremely complex artificial intelligence called valets or later, mentars. There is virtually nothing that technology cannot provide those who have the access to it. But as our main characters, led by Samson Harger, learn technology can also take away as it gives. There are also some personal voids that no amount of technology can fill.

Such is the nature of life in this world that our story unfolds over a span of 40 years, not over days and months. A high tech “misunderstanding” changes Samson Harger’s life forever just when it seems like he truly does have everything. In a matter of seconds, literally, he has all of that taken away and is irrevocably turned into an outcast and fringe member of society.

That is but the beginning of a conspiracy against his family that takes 40 years to unfold and draws in all of the other characters, who cut a cross section across all social classes in the world. We see the affluents, the chartists, and the cloned workforce, as well as the ghosts and uncertainties that haunt them all even as it seems like they have everything that life could have to offer. We see that there always seems to be some longing that technology cannot fix. So not everything is idyllic in that utopian Star Trek way.

Our plot furthers itself as we follow the events of our characters, and they are varied. We have perhaps the only old man in the world who is near death but desires one final social statement before he dies, and a clone security expert who wonders if there’s more to life than the likes and dislikes, traits, and characteristics of his genetic line, and fears that even thinking about that may be a sign genetic clone fatigue. There is his wife, another clone who fears that the skillset of her genetic line is rapidly becoming obsolete in the current world. There is a retro-boy, who desires all the advantages of willingly remaining in a pre-puberty state even as he sees the disadvantages and missed opportunities. His housemeets in the Kodiak Charter also go about their daily lives as they watch their charter continue to decay from its previous heights. We have a social planner who is caught in the middle of a suspiciously improbable accident and finds himself further drawn into events by an AI entity.

Loose connections begin to be made in the plot as all these elements converge, and all road signs pointed to an exciting climax where everything finally came together, all those cherries on the slot machine lined up, and we got our big payout. I was reading eagerly, as the story was original and innovative enough that I didn’t find myself beating the novel to its conclusion. It built up and built up as our character drama reached critical mass. A number of chapters along the way were written with a different style or perspective. They must be there to draw attention to something important or significant, like a flashing hotel sign on the side of an interstate. Things seemed juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust on the verge of all coming together into what I was already anticipating as a big ‘Wow!’ moment. Then just like that the story reached a quick ending. Like the author ran out of words and the story had to stop there. The road ended pretty much exactly where the map for our journey said it would, but the map never said our shiny new car ride would stop at a bridge that was still under construction, with no road ahead left to travel. All those pieces along the way never assembled into a complete explanation. What was the point behind everything that happened? What was the big conspiracy hinted at through the story? You find that you don’t know anymore than what you speculated along the way. Or, like me, perhaps you feel like something of a dense reader, wondering if artfully planted clues and deep interpretations were left out there in plain sight so that all the answers should be self apparent, and that in the end after reading this fine book you managed to entirely miss the point and let it fly over your head.

Perhaps David Marusek wanted to foster conjecture and debate. Maybe somewhere in here he has encoded his secret answer to the meaning of life. Perhaps if I had a Bachelor or Master’s Degree in Literature the message he was conveying would not have slipped beneath my conscious threshold. But maybe he’s already planning for a sequel and wanted to leave them wanting more.

I do want more. I want some concrete answers. So for that I have to drop Counting Heads down a couple notches and give it an 8. I was counting heads but in the end I wasn’t able to report any sort of definitive number..

David Rice, abused by father and abandoned by mother, suddenly discovers he has the unusual ability to “jump” - miraculously transporting himself and anything he is holding to wherever he pictures in his mind. Using his ability to escape his father, he struggles to survive in a world without job, ID, personal history. Life without personal connections is cold and lonely, though. The temptation to settle down calls to him and, in giving in, he captures the attention of the establishment. Throughout his attempts to avoid the long arm of Big Brother, he tackles terrorism and his relationship with his parents.

Readers familiar with Griffin’s Tale may feel a bit disoriented while reading Jumper. Written in 1992 and re-released this year to coincide with the production of the movie Jumper by 20th Century Fox, Jumper the book sustains a few alterations before making it to the big screen. Griffin is not in the book Jumper but is only a character created for the movie, hence the book Griffin’s Tale written not too long ago to establish the character before the movie was released. Readers shouldn’t avoid this book for this reason, however. Just know that the book is different from the movie, as usual.

I found the concept of jumping interesting and had high hopes for the book. To quote Stephen Gould, “Teleportation is, I hope, a classic trope of science fiction, and not a cliché.” I agree, but even classic tropes need good stories with well-explained back stories in order to shine. Unfortunately, Jumper leaves much to be desired when examined with a critical eye.

Here is a young boy, abandoned and abused, trying to make it on his own. Whenever he meets a struggle, “poof”, he disappears and goes somewhere else. He does deal with some very uncomfortable situations, but his ability makes it all seem so unreal. Yes, I understand the genre is fiction. I expect my fiction to contain kernels of believability sprinkled throughout the fantasy, though.

I appreciate how Mr. Gould tries to have David Rice, the main character, work through these issues. In fact, the adolescent angst is at times palpable and cloying. But, when I got to the end I didn’t feel like I actually made it anywhere. The story read like a chain of events loosely bound together by the same paper cover and not a well-knit story unfolding for the reader. I know no more about David Rice at the end than I did at the beginning.

I had hoped the author would address the root of David’s talent, why he has it and where it came from. One could say this would be developed in the next book in the series, but Mr. Gould released this in 1992 and didn’t follow up with another book. There is no series. (For those of you hearkening back to Griffin’s Tale again, please remember that book deals with the history of a character created for the movie Jumper.) He just cuts us off and leaves us with nothing. In fact, after I finished I remember thinking “hmmm, reads like a television show”. Perhaps the movie is more enjoyable.

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

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

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

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

Fans of the Noble Dead saga have watched Magiere discover her heritage, assist in rescuing an elven assasin, and constantly remain on the lookout for more vampires. Now, driven to recover a powerful talisman, she finds herself blindly following a mysterious dream to a castle somewhere along unknown trails. She must find the talisman before her half-brother, the vampire Welstiel, finds it first and uses it for untold evil. Readers will also see into the mind of one of the Undead, Chane, a “child” of the vampire Welstiel. Created by Welstiel, Chane owes him allegiance for the half-life he leads but finds that allegiance challenged in the days to come. The two sides are joined by a third, a powerful elven contingency who seek the talisman also to use it’s power to further their own agenda. All three collide at the mountaintop fortress that holds answers to questions raised throughout the entire series.

For a long and complicated series, the book is a quick read and easy to understand. The descriptions of the Undead and their practices are chilling and a bit unusual in this age of overdone vampiric clichés. There are a lot of characters with very odd names, which can make it difficult to keep them straight. (I would have appreciated a cast list but I realize that serious fans would not necessarily need such a crutch.) The elven casting was as expected, but the political byplay wasn’t. The power struggle between the three groups adds depth to what could have been a shallow story.

Readers definitely need to read the series in order, otherwise they will be lost from the beginning. The action starts right in the middle of the story where the last book left off. Many allusions are made to previous happenings and the events in this book gain significance by the experiences the characters have already weathered.

I appreciated the way the authors crafted the sense that Fate can be avoided for awhile, but eventually she catches up with you. Several characters in this story are pushing the limitations of their destiny, but each one will be called upon to finish their chosen task whether they want to or not. Sometimes the action became a bit repetitive but the grand finale was worth it.

The end of the book served as a bit of a teaser also, so I looked up the series’ website and discovered the authors are preparing to continue the saga by beginning a new series. The website suggests there will be a couple of characters carried over from this first series but that the action will happen on another continent. The first book in the series should come out around January, 2009.

“Storm Dragon”, book one of the Draconic Prophecies, by James Wyatt is set in the Dungeons & Dragons world of Eberron. James Wyatt is one of the creators of the Eberron world. . Eberron is a change of pace from other D& D fantasy worlds, in that it has slightly higher technology with magical airships, artificially created warriors called “warforged”, and other elements. In some regards I suppose it is like a steampunk D&D world. Not being familiar with the details of the Eberron world I thought that a story by Wyatt, one of its creators, would be ideal for getting an overview of the world as we built into the story. That didn’t happen though. A familiarity with the world is needed to avoid getting lost in the dizzying assortment of names, places, and historical details. Is having some world background woven into the story an unreasonable expectation? Perhaps, but I admit to having that expectation coming into the book.

The other item that dominated my perception of “Storm Dragon” was how slowly events built up and the story finally gained steam. When the plot elements all come together though, much like one of the storms that main character Gavin Lyrandar can magically conjure, things really get going. That takes very nearly the entire book though, as things unfold slowly. Patience is required as we see Gavin Lyrandar and Haldren ir’Brassek get broken out of an inescapable prison in Eberron. Gavin is a man driven mad by obsession with a Draconic prophecy. As a result, he may know more about it than anybody. There are those who seek to fulfil the prophecy for their own gain, and they see Gavin’s knowledge as a key to it. Alliances are forged, broken, and reforged throughout the course of the novel. In many cases character motivation was passed to the reader in the form of riddle-like prophecy text. The constantly shifting alliances made it very difficult to determine who was key to the agendas throughout the story, who was a pawn, or even who the heroes of the story
would be.

Then there was the prophecy itself. It was the driving force that was shaping the world events in the story. But I still wasn’t clear what the prophecy was. It seemed a tale of Armageddon or of a war among gods on Eberron. These seemed to be, at least as I interpreted them, world altering events, yet something that some power hungry people thought that could bring to pass for their own personal gain. The role of “the bad guys” in the story seemed to be clear if they wanted to destroy the world in order to rule it. Their objectives and the exact outcome they thought they could achieve were extremely hazy, still very far into the book. While I like not being spoon-fed by a plot and being able to make my own interpretations and guesses until the author let’s me know whether I’ve been right or wrong, I was having to do too much of this to be able to settle comfortably into the book for the majority of it. While the bad guys were clear whether or not the expected hero of the story would actually play that role was in doubt for an unsettlingly long portion of the book.

That may have been by design as the clouds broke and questions were clearly answered in the climax of the story. However, it made for a frustrating read at times because I felt just as in the dark about which characters I should grow attached to in the story as I was at the beginning. I’m a sucker for a hero, especially when I’m reading fantasy. I want to find that character and travel along with him or her, even if that’s a misdirection to be revealed later in the story. But in this case I had a hard time finding anything redeeming in any of the characters for the longest time so I had nobody to invest in. For the majority of the story the character I liked most was Cart, the warforged. As a constructed warforged, he had a loyalty and innocence to him. Perhaps it is all my years of watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the obvious comparisons to the android Commander Data, but it was most interesting, especially in the early parts of the book, to watch Cart strive to interact with his companions as humanly as he knew how to, but still fall short of that.

Still though, it was apparent that Cart was a secondary character in this story. Perhaps he has previously had, or will get, his own book. But this one was not his. It was obvious that this book was Gavin’s. I was expecting to see the classic journey of the hero, ala “The Hero of A Thousand Faces”. So I waited for the character to develop, and his story and growth to occur along the way.

I waited a long time and was very near conceding that it wasn’t going to happen and this book wasn’t going to hit the mark for me. But then things all came together. Gavin found himself, both in character and as a character in the book that I found interesting and drawn to. Gavin had one huge moment of catharsis where all the bitterness and resentment of his life and particularly 26 years of imprisonment was washed away. But I thought he found a bit too much forgiveness, just a bit too quickly, especially toward the person who was responsible for having him sent to prison. That’s an awful lot of instant forgiveness. It seemed forced to me so that the plot could proceed along. Gavin also had a tearful reunion with a family that he had been “excommunicated” from for 26 years that was also too conveniently resolved. Again I thought it farfetched that 26 years of history could be undone that easily and painlessly. “Storm Dragon” comes in at a comfortable 344 pages, so these couple elements that were forced and rushed could have been expanded out in a less abrupt fashion in just a few extra pages. It didn’t seem like these pivotal moments of character growth and revelation had to be glossed over for the sake of the length of the book. I don’t claim to be the editor or publisher, so perhaps I’m entirely wrong there.

For all the slow build-up, “Storm Dragon ended very strongly over the last thirteen chapters. Better late than never in the “bringing it all together” department. The climax was a large battle sequence that was riveting and was the biggest page-turner of the book. I’ll even look past the fact that there was a beholder at the end that seemed to go down pretty easily. The end left us with questions and a setup for the additional books in this series, but it provided a happy ending for our main characters who had managed to step forward and take the title of “heroes” by the time the book ended.

I give “Storm Dragon” a “rising 6” on my scale. It walked a tightrope and teetered on the brink for me at the beginning. But James Wyatt pulled through and brought it home for me at the end. Looking over the whole book I have to give it a 6, but my opinion was definitely on the rise after the last 13 chapters. They saved the book in my opinion and were a solid springboard from which to launch the rest of the series.

However, to have more than just a average reading experience while reading “Storm Dragon” a reader will need to have two things, an appreciation and some familiarity with the world of Eberron and the patience to let the story come together.

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

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

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

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

Drake is sent on a journey meant to be short and simple. Yet no journey through the Thornwoods could be termed simple. Constrictor vines, vicious ants and thorn vipers were the least of his worries. Aevians top the list, beginning with the bloodthirsty and aggressive griffins and wyverns. Only by hiding in the thorny woods and taking hidden paths does Derek have any change of bringing his two guests to their destination. His fellow travelers, however, are dwarves on a daring quest to face the one who set the aevian plague on this world - Draglune, the Iron Dragon himself. Although Derek knows by leaving he may never see his home or his beloved again, he too feels called on this quest.

This is Mr. Genesse’s first foray into writing a fantasy fiction novel after denying his calling for years. He has crafted a world where humans are dogged by dragons, wyverns and other aerians. Living in towns protected by thorn trees with paths whittled through forests, humans use what they have available in their natural world to fight for survival. They also have the use of Earth magic assists in their struggles against the unnatural and the already dead. Ghosts walk this place also, haunting those they can easily control.

For a first novel, this was a fairly good attempt at world building. Mr. Gennesse has crafted believable characters that have layers to their motivations and emotions. There is a sense of dogged tenacity in the humans, in their determination to survive in this inhospitable world. The author has certainly captured the malice and evil that drips from the dragon and his minions. He may borrow heavily from archetypes but manages to lend his own bent to them.

Each aspect of the story taken by itself seems well-built. Yet the process of knitting these pieces together falls short of impressive. The weakest point of the entire story is the romantic relationship between Drake and his beloved. I appreciate the lack of sugary sappiness, but the shift between death-defying action and enduring love was not believable for me.

Even knowing this, however, I would be willing to read the next book in the series. Mr. Genesse has the rest of the series written and I am interested to see what will happen with Drake and his quest to save the world. This is a promising book from a writer working to perfect his art.