De Vassa tändernas skog (The Forest of Hands & Teeth 1) by Carrie Ryan [Book Review]

Jun 072011

The Village with Zombies

Maybe science scares us and we like to read about its failure. That is a theme that comes again and again in zombie and other catastrophe stories. Maybe that is why I usually am not into zombie or catastrophe stories. I like when science makes progress and invents new stuff that amazes me.

This is my first review of a Swedish book even if this one is a translation from English. There might be more original Swedish works in the future. Carrie Ryan is also new to me.

I am very happy I read this story even if it is outside my comfort zone. It is halfway between a young adult and an adult story and it is about a young woman on her way into adulthood who doesn’t conform to the wishes of the repressive culture in her village. She gets involved in a love triangle with her best friend as a hurt bystander. Their isolated village lies in the middle of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Swedish: De Vassa Tändernas skog) which is also the title. It is surrounded by fences that keep them safe from the unholy. The reason for the zombie apocalypse is never explained but it is hinted that it had something to do with immortality. Maybe we will learn in one of the following books.

The sisterhood is the only ones that seem to keep history alive inside their order at the same time as they work to withhold status quo. It is generations after the zombie apocalypse. The scientific method is dead. If you read between the lines they probably killed off the scientists at some stage. Now even curious and inquisitive minds are seen with suspicion.

In the village everything is done by duty in contrast to the romantic love she feels inside. The action works up to a frightening break-in by the unholy that forces her and a small band of survivor out on a journey along the mysterious fenced path nobody used in ages. The Journey is as always an important part of any zombie story so is the vengeful they-did-it-to-themselves theme.

The characters are okay but the romantic scenes sometimes lack the foundation they deserve in my opinion.

De Vassa Tändernas Skog was a pleasant surprise and I wouldn’t mind reading part two of Mary’s continued adventures. It reads quite well as a standalone book but you will want to learn more like I do.

Book Information

De Vassa tändernas skog (Eng: The Forest of Hands & Teeth) by Carrie Ryan (Styxx fantasy 2011, 1st 2009) – Review copy

Marys värld är liten – en isolerad by mitt ute i skogen, omgärdad av stängsel. Stängslet är det enda som håller Mary och de andra byborna vid liv, för på andra sidan finns De vassa tändernas skog där de oheliga ständigt rör sig i jakt på mer människokött att infektera. Så har det varit i generationer och i byn har man satt upp enkla regler för att överleva: Man gör sin plikt och följer Systerskapets order, allt annat är oviktigt. Ändå kan Mary inte låta bli att drömma om världen utanför stängslet och det som kan finnas där, om havet som hon bara hört talas om och en gång sett på ett foto.

En dag bryter sig de oheliga igenom stängslet. På några minuter utplånas stora delar av byn och Mary flyr ut i skogen. Kampen för att överleva har börjat och snart måste Mary göra viktiga val – mellan dröm och plikt, mellan mannen hon älskar och mannen som älskar henne. Vad finns egentligen på andra sidan av den fruktansvärda skogen?

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The Rogue (Traitor Spy Trilogy 2) by Trudi Canavan (Orbit 2011) [Book Review]

Books 1 Response »

May 092011

Where is the Rogue?

I like to read fantasy now and then to break with the science fiction and Trudi Canavan is one of my favorites. The Black Magician trilogy was where I fell in readership with her and in love with Sonea a street urchin turned magician. Sonea and many of her friends features prominently in this trilogy too.

The point of view characters are Sonea, her son Lorking, Dannyl and Lilia the novice. Trudi changes view between them in every chapter so the books reads like a tv show with change after each scene. I like that much better than a whole chapter that ends in a cliffhanger and then three chapters until we learn what happens. Sonea and the master thief Ceryl, a childhood friend are hunting The Rogue Skellin and he keeps building his drug empire in their city. Lorking is stuck in the Traitors Sanctuary while he tries to find a way to love and the secret of their magical gems, the later he wants to trade for the Guild’s Healing magic. Dannyl continues his quest for the history of magic while juggling an old lover and a potential dangerous new one. Lilia is a new character and she gets caught in a web not of her own making. She is a naïve young novice born of a family of house servants. Just the type of character Trudi does so well. Lilia is my favorite character, I like coming of age histories and she is so sweet and innocent. Her journey to discover her sexual identity is told very well in my opinion.

The greater forces behind the scene start to take form here. I hope Trudi writes more about the history of the land and it’s magic.

The one thing I feel a bit disappointed with is that we hear and see so little of Skellin the Rogue in a book with his name. What is up with that? It is a great book but the title might lead you to wrong expectations.

The story has good pacing and I read it in one sitting. Trudi Canavan has done it again with this fantasy drama in familiar settings all her own. I am very interesting in what is going to happen in the concluding volume next year. Traitor Queen will probably be out in spring 2012.

Book information

Other books by Trudi Canavan:

- The Magician’s Apprentice (Orbit 2010)
The Black Magician Series
1. The Magicians’ Guild
2. Novice
3. High Lord
The Traitor Spy Trilogy
1. The Ambassador’s Mission (Orbit 2010)
Age of the Five Series
1. Priestess of the White
2. Last of the Five
3 Voice of the Gods

The Rogue (Traitor Spy Trilogy book 1) by Trudi Canavan - Orbit (2011) – Bought from Amazon UK | US

Kyralia is facing threats at home and abroad, as a rogue killer stalks its capital’s streets, while the neighbouring kingdom of Sachaka is breeding a rebellion that could destabilise the entire region.

High Lord Akkarin and Sonea’s son Lorkin has a legacy of heroism to live up to, but despite his good intentions, his incarceration in Sachaka’s rebel traitor stronghold could destroy the tenuous peace between the two countries. Angered by Lorkin’s seeming defection the Sachakans blame the Kyralian ambassador, Danny–and they are a savage people when roused.

And back home, in the University, two young novices are about to remind the Guild that sometimes their greatest enemy comes from within…

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The Kings of Eternity by Eric Brown [Book Review]

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Apr 272011

A Wonderful love story and an Alien

I had great expectations for Eric Browns magnus opus The Kings of Eternity. The style of the book brought me back towards the classic adventure stories of Verne & Wells that usually starts at a club for gentlemen. This one doesn’t but the mysterious summon novelist Daniel Langham and his friends receive from Editor Jasper Carnegie and the strange followings in Hopton Wood are pure golden age including the recurring alien gateway and the strange creatures they discover there.

There are two timelines the first starts in 1935 and the other one starts in 1999 on Crete and centers on the reclusive and very private novelist Jonathan Langham whose life turns upside down when he unexpectedly meets artist Caroline Platt and falls in love. The setting is an idyllic village populated by people who respects privacy but also with a mysterious menacing foreigner.

Daniel’s love affair with an actress is at roads end and that contrasts well with the budding love in the other timeline. The two timelines converge as the story develops and layer after layer is revealed.

It is remarkable how ordinary everyday all the story seems but that has always been a strength of Eric Brown. He is a master of the everyday backdrop to great events. I liked it in the Bengali Station series and I like it here.

I love the characters they feel so at home in their time period and yet well-integrated in the overall drama. And the love stories are also very captivating and the ending is wonderful (I cried). The bromance is not as prominent but as the title it forms a band of brothers of a sort.

I had a hard time putting the book down. It keeps you guessing and the revelations hits fast in the end.

I am so happy Eric Brown has done it again. The Kings of Eternity is big science fiction at an everyday backdrop, great characters and a wonderful love story. This is a strong contender for book of the year; it is clearly the best book I have read so far.

Book information

The Kings of Eternity by Eric Brown – Solaris (2011) – Bought from Amazon UK | US

1999, on the threshold of a new millennium, the novelist Daniel Langham lives a reclusive life on an idyllic Greek island, hiding away from humanity and the events of the past. All that changes, however, when he meets artist Caroline Platt and finds himself falling in love. But what is his secret, and what are the horrors that haunt him?

1935. Writer Jonathon Langham and Edward Vaughan are summoned from London by their editor friend Jasper Carnegie to help investigate strange goings on in Hopton Wood. What they discover there – no less than a strange creature from another world – will change their lives for ever. What they become, and their link to the novelist of the future, is the subject of Eric Brown’s most ambitious novel to date. Almost ten years in the writing, The Kings of Eternity is a novel of vast scope and depth, full of the staple tropes of the genre and yet imbued with humanity and characters you’ll come to love.

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Keeping it Real (Quantum Gravity 1) by Justina Robson [Book Review]

Books 2 Responses »

Mar 032011

Lila Black, Sex, Elves and Rock’n'Roll . . .

This new-to-me series (I have in fact finished all five books now) takes place in a fantasy world that works according to scientific principles where a quantum bomb unraveled reality and put earth in contact with other dimensions that already knew all about us. Alfheim, Demonia and Fae being the more accessible. Earth still doesn’t know much about the other worlds but have intelligence agencies working on it. One such agent is Lila Black, our intrepid and formidable protagonist.

Lila is not exactly peachy after being turned into half a machine after a supposedly safe recon mission into Alfheim. Her new mission is to be the body guard of a sexy elven rock star Zal of the band No Show. He is not exactly as she expected and then she gets locked in a Game with him. But before it gets too steamy things derail a bit and she has to enter Alfheim again in pursuit of answers.

I really like this multi verse of unpredictable Fey, mysterious Elves and haughty Demons. Lila’s journey through Alfheim peels layer after layer of our preconceptions of what is really going on and shows us the greater game but the ending is still a great surprise.

The characters are also great. Lila is slightly flawed, damaged psychologically from being maimed and being turned into a machine but with a lot of spirit and tenacity she prevails. Her battle mode also helps. Zal is a bit of the mysterious dangerous but charming stranger and I do enjoy the Game they play a lot. Lila also has a thing for motorcycles I enjoyed immensely. What a ride! This is something that we return to in later books too.

Keeping it Real is is a bit like a more steamy Buffy with cyborg enhancements, gunfights and wonderful one liners (they have those on Buffy too). It was a fast read too. Justina Robson and Lila Black are guilty pleasures I warmly recommend.

Information

Title: Keeping it Real
Series: Quantum Gravity book 1
Author: Justina Robson
Genre: Scientific Fantasy
Paperback: 279 pages
Publisher: Gollancz 2006
Order from: Amazon US | UK

LILA BLACK: HALF ROBOT, ALL ATTITUDE

The Quantum Bomb of 2015 changed everything. The fabric between the dimensions was ttorn and now, six years later, the people of earth exist in uneasy company with the inhabitants of, amongst others, the elven, elemental, and demonic realms. Magic is real and can be even more dangerous than technology. Elves are alien, erotic and very dangerous. Elementals are a law unto themselves and demons are best left well to themselves.

Special agent Lila Black, 21, used to be pretty, but now she’s not so sure.

Torn apart two years ago, her body is now half restless carbon and metal alloy. A machine she’s barely in control of. When it goes into combat mode, enough weapons for a small army springing from within itself, at the merest provocation. And then there’s her AI. And Lila has never known where she ends and it begins.

As for her heart . . . well ever since being drawn into a Game by the elf she’s been assigned to protect, she’s not even sure she can trust that anymore either.

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Harmony (Harmony 1) by C. F. Bentley (Daw) Review

Books 1 Response »

Jul 292010

Title: Harmony
Series: Harmony 1
Author: C. F. Bentley (Irene Radford)
Genre: Military Science Fiction | Fantasy
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Daw 2008

Order from: Daw | Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

The launch of a brand new series that blends the best elements of science fiction and fantasy.

The world of Harmony, along with its close-knit colony planets, long ago isolated itself from the rest of the universe. But in a universe where the human-based Confederate Star System fleet finds itself hard-pressed to stand against ever-increasing attacks by the alien Marillon Empire, the Harmonic Empire cannot be left alone. For if the CSS cannot win an alliance with Harmony, the Marils will surely find a way to invade the planet and seize control of the unique and invaluable metal, which only the Harmonites can produce.

Yet invasion is far from the only threat the people of Harmony face. The gulf between rich and poor, rulers and ruled continues to widen, threatening to destroy the very structure of their society—while the planet itself is becoming increasingly unstable. In this time of crisis, one young woman

Information

The book is dedicated to Father Richard Toll and there is an excerpt from the sequel Enigma at the end of the book.

This is a book about a historical conspiracy and the pressure of change that will rip any static society apart.

The protagonists are Jake, a spy sent by mainstream humanity to obtain the secret of the Badger Metal and Sissy born with the mark of all seven castes, soon to become High Priestess of Harmony.

The Author

C. F. Bentley is a pseudonym Irene Radford uses for her science fiction novels. Harmony is the first novel by her I ever read but I think I will read more. From what it looks like she has written a number of fantasy books. The theme seems to be dragons and Merlin. More information on Irene’s homepage www.ireneradford.com.

World building

The Confederated Star System is at war with the alien Marillon Empire and they both need Badger Metal for their starships. Harmony is the only supplier which is why Jake is sent there to find out the secret on how to make it. Harmony is a seven world pocket empire that was founded by an earth cult. It closed its borders fifty years ago and they have had no outside contact ever since including no export of Badger Metal.

Harmony with its rigid cast society is like an onion of deception where we see layer after layer being stripped off. Marriages between casts are forbidden and when you are born into a cast (carry the cast mark) you are there for life.

The world is consistent, interesting and realistic even if it borders on on the absurd at times. There is a slight resemblance in feel from some Harry Harrison novels even if the world is much more complex here.

Plot

Jake used to be a fighter pilot before he screwed up and was saved by a secret intelligence organization that takes on space opera manners. There is sex very early in the novel but not very descriptive. He is first sent to The Lost Colony of Harmony (they broke of communication with their mother world and formed a new casteless society) to try to obtain an alternative to Badger Metal but it fails so he is sent to Harmony undercover as one of the Military Cast and he eventually end up as Sissy’s bodyguard.

Harmony is going through an unstable period with freaky weather and earthquakes which the cultists see as the planet being upset. Sissy is a mutant, born and raised by Worker parents but with all seven cast markings, usually that would make her an outcast of society to be eventually exterminated in one of their concentration camps/asylum but she hides it with cosmetics. During a catastrophic earthquake she discovers that she can channel its energy and commune with Harmony saving the city from destruction. The High Priest finds her and makes her the new High Priestess against the wishes of the former’s family who have had that title for generations. The High Priest thinks she will be easy to manipulate with her simple upbringing. He couldn’t be more wrong as she starts to put things right.

What follows is political intrigue, assassination attempts, deception but also revelation of the truth about their pasts. It is fast paced with unexpected twists and a lovely love story just like I like it.

Characterization

Jake is well developed with his doubt about the mission and the moral dilemma he faces. He is also appalled by the rigid caste society and the way the high casts manipulate the lower.

Sissy grows from ignorant worker to a formidable leader of her people. She is a strong believer in family and the high castes ways disgust her. You root for her from the beginning as she is so easy to love.

My View

There is a quite a bit of social commentary in this story and the characters, which makes it more than just a good rump. I like Harmony, it mixes military with space opera and romance in a fast flowing easy to read experience. It was also a damn fun book to read. I had to laugh out loud in delight at some of the twists the story took to the amusement of my dear ones. In conclusion Harmony is not great literature but it is a fun read which should please both readers of military science fiction, space opera and romance.

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