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?

 

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…

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.

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.

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.

Title: A Thousand Words For Stranger
Series: Trade Pact book 1
Author: Julie E. Czerneda
Genre: Science Fiction | Romance
Cover art: Luis Royo
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Daw, 2007: 10th Anniversary Edition (1997)

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

Foreword by the author: pdf

My reviews of other works by Julie E. Czerneda: Species Imperative Series: Survival | Migration | Regeneration

The tenth anniversary edition of Julie Czerneda’s debut science fiction novel, the story of a woman on the run, from the law, her own people, and an unknown pursuer. Her memory taken from her by a stasis block, Sira must stay free long enough to regain her identity and the full use of her telepathic powers-for failure may cost not only her own future but that of her entire race.

Information

I read the 10th Anniversary Edition with an introduction by the author (See link above) and a bonus story Brothers Bound (see below).

The Clan Chronicles is three trilogies about species survival. The Clan has great mental powers and they tend to breed for it. The Trade Pact trilogy takes that down to the practical level. How does one proceed when evolution produces individual power too great for any presumptive mate to survive?

A release related to this series is Rift in The Sky (Stratification Trilogy book 3) July 6, 2010. The Stratification trilogy is a prequel about the Clan’s origin. Julie is also working on a sequel, The Reunification Cycle where the Clan finds its way home.

The principal characters in this novel are Sira di Sarc, a Clan woman without memory and a blue-eyed starship captain named Morgan. And it is a story about the power of love and freedom of choice.

The Author

Julie is a Canadian science fiction and fantasy writer with, to judge by what I read by her so far some great Big Ideas, well developed and easy to love characters and some hard science beautifully and skillfully presented. Her ideas are often based in her field of expertise as a former biologist.

World Building

This is Julie’s first novel but you wouldn’t guess that from the competent writing. The setting for this tale is a future where a multitude of species has formed an interstellar trade pact regulating trade and other interspecies dealings. Humans are part of the Pact but the human-like Clan with their mental powers choose to stay outside while residing inside the Trade Pact.

Legend has it the Clan once left their home world by teleporting away. Now their population of a few thousands is declining in numbers and something has to be done.

Plot

Sira don’t even know her own name when she has to flee the scene where her escort is attacked. She is driven by compulsions to leave the planet with a blue-eyed starship captain named Morgan, but she is not sure she can trust him. She is pursued by pirates, Clansmen (different ones with different agendas) she no longer trusts or know and Trade Pact Enforcers determined to find out the truth.

We know from the beginning she is a Clans woman named Sira di Sarc with her memories and powers locked down, but she doesn’t know and none of us know who she really is. She start to call herself Sira Morgan (star traders are often families and she wants to avoid notice) and make a life as crew, while trying to avoid  pursuers and learn the truth about her past. Quite unsurprisingly she starts to develop feelings for Morgan. This will lead to trouble down the road as the Clan is very contemptuous towards other species.

Before it is over she has to confront Sira di Sarc, the power within her, her spiring feelings for Morgan, The Clans restrictions on freedom of choice and maybe the survival of her specie.

Characterization

The narration shifts between Sira’s storyline told in more intimate first person and shorter interludes told in third person about Sira’s pursuers. The interludes also help the reader with the big picture that often suffers in first person (what the character sees is what you get). It is quite clever for a first novel in my opinion. Some authors go the other way and add main characters, an option that I’m not fond of because it deludes my focus.

Sira being without memory could easily have become her only reacting to what is happening. Happily here she develops a new personality Sira Morgan, and she goes her own way, surprising both the other characters and the reader. As she slowly learns more about herself it also creates an interesting dilemma, who is really the real person? She is afraid what her Clan personality could do to her and to her feelings towards Morgan.

My View

This is very much the way I like a good science fiction to be; there is a mysterious alien race, in this case with mental powers, a female protagonist that acts,  grows and has to overcome obstacles, and a human interest angle with the spiring romance between Sira and Morgan. A Thousand Words for Stranger is a clever biology lesson dressed up in an entertaining character adventure. This is not nonstop action or overly romantic or opera like, this is an ordinary tale about people who feels real. This book is a good place to start with Julie E. Czerneda’s writings and it has my warm recommendation.

Brothers Bound – Bonus Story

Included in the 10th anniversary edition. Brothers Bound is an endearing tale about an alien and his dog. It is from the time humans was rather insignificant in the Trade Pact and it helps to explain how they evolved to become important as they are at the time of the Trade Pact novels.

Title: Primary Inversion
Series: Saga of the Skolian Empire
Author: Catherine Asaro
Cover art: Ron Walothsky
Paperback: 384 pages | Audiobook: 10h 59 min
Grene: Romantic Science Fiction | Military Science Fiction
Publisher: Tor Books 1995
Order: Tor | Amazon US | UK | B&N | Free Online

The Skolian Empire rules a third of the civilized galaxy through its mastery of faster-than-light communication. But war with the rival empire of the Traders seems imminent, a war that can only lead to slavery for the Skolians or the destruction of both sides. Destructive skirmishes have already occurred. A desperate attempt must be made to avert total disaster.

The Author

Catherine Asaro is pretty new to me; I picked up the first books the summer of 2009. She has an impressive background; she was a professor in physics until 1990; she is a member of SIGMA, a think tank of speculative writers that advises the government as to future trends affecting national security and she is a former ballerina. She is married to Kendall Cannizzo, and astrophysicist at NASA and they have one daughter

Information

This is Catherine Asaro’s first published novel, her first novella Light and Shadow was published 1994 in Analog.

The book is dedicated to her husband Kendall Cannizzo with love.

The protagonist of this book is Sauscony Lahaylia Valdoria Skolia, also called Soz or Soshoni. She is a member of the Ruby Dynasty ruling the Skolian Empire and has the empathic and telepathic abilities of a Rhon psion. She ranks Jagernaut Primary (Admiral or General) in the ISC. A Jagernaut is a biomechanically enhanced fighter and pilot.

I suspect but don’t know that Catherine is of Finnish Swedish speaking descent as many of her terms make sense for me in Swedish. Skola is the Swedish word for school and is also used to in expressions concerning knowledge. Jägare is the Swedish word for hunter or in Finland it is what they call their Special Forces soldiers.

Worldbuilding

In the universe of the Saga of the Skolian Empire there are two mayor power blocks that locked in conflict the Skolian Empire and the Eubian Concord. It seems like the Eubian Concord is the original aggressors, they have a society built on might is right, where their leaders basically are mental vampires that keep empaths as slaves to feed on. While the The Skolian Empire built on the power of faster than light communications made possible by linking the mental powers of the powerful empaths that rule it.

We get to know quite a bit about the social and political situation in both empires. Soz thinks of the Skolian Empire as the good guys, but that might not be totally true. It is not according to the people of the planets they occupy to ‘save’ them from the Concord.

You will also notice that Catherine is a physicist in the info dumps about future technology even if Psionics might take you into the land of fantasy.

Plot

The book is divided into three parts Delos, Forshire Hold, Diesha.

A romance is central to the story but it is also about two Empires on the brink of a major war our protagonist wants to avoid.

Delos tells the story of how Romeo and Julia, sorry Soz and Jaibriol Qox II meet. Like Soz, Jaibriol is also a Rhon psion, but he was also a member of the Aristo Highton caste and heir to the enemy of Skolians, the Eubian Concord.

Fordshire Hold is where Soz goes to heal after the fateful space battle that cripples her best friend and lover.

Diesha is when she realizes she have to rescue Jairiol who have been captured by Skolian forces.

Characterization

The characters are complex even if they have a romance novel feel to them at times. Soz have many inner demons and doubts to fight, she is also the only character that is well developed, which is understandable since she is the protagonist, and the story is about her.

The Fordshire Hold part of the book is where Soz grows most as a character and comes to realize the world is more than she thought it was, that was a part I liked to read.

My View

Primary Inversion is a fantastic first novel with remarkable storytelling by Catherine Asaro. It is a Romantic science fiction with space opera, military scifi and hard science influence about a formidable yet human Julia character and it avoids the usual pitfalls of that genre, it is not action packed but there is enough thrill to go around. It reads well as a standalone novel. I will read The Radiant Seas that continues Soz’s story next.

Title: The Ambassador’s Mission
Series: Traitor Spy Trilogy 1
Author: Trudi Canavan
Jacket art: Steve Stone [portfolio]
Hardback: 528 pages
Publisher: Orbit
Source: Review copy from the publisher
Order:Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

As the son of late High Lord Akkarin, savior of the city, and Sonea, the former street urchin turned Black Magician, Lorkin has a legacy of heroism and adventure to live up to. So when Lord Dannyl takes the position of Guild Ambassador to Sachaka, Lorkin volunteers to be his assistant in the hopes of making his mark on the world.

When news come that Lorkin is in danger, the law forbids Black Magicians leaving the city forces Sonea to trust that Dannyl will save him, and now Cery needs her as never before. Someone has been assassinating Thieves, and when his family is targeted he finds evidence that this Thief Hunter uses Magic.

Either a member of the Guild is hunting down the Thieves one by one, or there is – once again – a rogue on the streets of Imardin. But this one has full control of their powers – and is willing to kill with them.

The Author

Trudi Canavan is relatively new for me. I started reading The Black Magician Trilogy (The Magicians’ Guild, Novice, High Lord) after a slightly tippsy literary discussion on a company outing in November 2009. A colleague borrowed me the trilogy and I was hooked, thank you M. I also read Age of Five trilogy (Priestess of the White, Last of the Five, Voice of the Gods) and I liked it too.

Information

The jacket has a fine staff wielding figure in some kind of fighting stance overlaid with a tower/cityscape and some signs on it.

There is three good maps at the beginning of the book over The Magicans’ Guild of Kyralia, The City of Imardin and The Land of Kyralia. There is no maps of Sachaka where most of the ambassador’s adventures take place.

At the back of the book there is a Glossary of animals, plants/food, clothing and weaponry, countries/peoples in the region, titles/positions and other terms that you will find useful.

There is also Lord Dannyl’s Guide to Slum Slang and Acknowledgements at the end.

Background

Sonea was a street urchin, a rogue mage and then she became a black magician in the first series The Black Magician Trilogy. Her boyfriend gave his last power so she could defeat the Sachaka invaders and save the city. They fought the invaders with the help of her childhood friend Cery and the thieves guild. Some time later she gave birth to Lorkin. Now Lorkin is a young man living in the shadow of his legendary mother. This is explained well in the book

Worldbuilding

Half of the action takes place in the City of Imardin in Kyralia and the Magicians’ Guild so that is fleshed out quite well in glimpses and short backgrounds. For example every year they used to Purge poor people from the inner city before winter, that has stopped now leading to all kinds of interesting changes in the city. It was at one of those Purges Sonea discovered her magic ability. The author fills in the background and social settings into the action and suspense in a way that works well for me.

The land of Sachaka where Lorkin goes as the Ambassador’s assistant is not as well described but then its not there Lorkin end up.The Ambassadors long term job is to get Sachaka to free it’s slaves and to join the Alliance. The travel there gives a good general orientation. By the time the book ends we have a glimpse of the underground Traitor society and their hidden city. I will not ruin the surprises for you by telling you details.

Plot

There are two plot lines in this story Lorkin’s in Sachaka and Sonea’s in Imardin.

Sonea is restricted to temple grounds and the hospital as one of two Black Magicians in the Guild. If she ever leaves them she will be exiled outside the alliance never to return. Black Magic is powerful and the Guild doesn’t trust anyone wielding it. Cery, her childhood friend is a prominent thief. But someone is killing thieves in the city. They call the murderer the Thief Hunter. When Cery is at a meeting with another crime boss named Skellin his family is killed. Evidence shows that magic was involved. He turns to Sonea for help, either there is someone in the Guild doing the killings or they have a rogue mage in the city. They find some unlikely allies in the hunt that goes through a for me a changed city. Much have changed since we saw them last.

Sonea’s son Lorkin goes as an ambassador’s assistant to Sachaka. Sonea fear for his life as Sachaka is known for family blood feuds even for outcasts like the black magicians that invaded Kyralia she killed. He leaves anyway together with Ambassador Dannyl. Both he and Dannyl are really there to study the history of magic. Dannyl because he is writing a history of magic and Lorkin because he wants to find new kinds of magic like his father did. Quit soon after their arrival there is an attempt on Lorkins life but he is rescued and have to flee with the slave underground who calls themselves the Traitors.

There is also what I believe is a trilogy plot line, someone is subverting the kingdom of Kyralia with Rot a new and habit forming drug. What is their long time goal? I think you will get some of the answers at the end of this book.

I liked the narration that switches between Sonea and Lorkin, particularly when it stayed with the one where things heated up until some resolution before switching back.

Characterization

The characters are easy to love and be interested in even if I sometimes feels that there could be more challenges for them. I am a character guy, I like to like my characters, I like when it goes well for them but they have to have challenges that presses them and here Lorkin got it but Sonea never breaks a sweat.

The Black Magician Sonea we know from previous books, she feels frustrated by all the restrictions surrounding her especially when she learns her son has disappeared. She also involve herself in Guild politics when it comes to change old unfair rules that prohibit the mages from lower classes to socialize with their kin as any poor is of ‘dubious character’. Her helping Cery hunt down the Thief Hunter is in fact a small part of her story that is mostly about changing the system.

For Sonea’s son Lorkin this is a coming of age story. He is out of his legendary mother’s shadow and has to stand on his own. He gets to experience life in Sachaka from the bottom in an illuminating and character building way. I liked the clever way he handled the Ambassador’s Mission and his father’s promise.

A love interest is also nice spice to any story and Lorkin’s is just what the doctor ordered.

My View

It is great being back in the Black Magician Universe again with Sonea and her friends. The Ambassador’s Mission is enjoyable straightforward fantasy with easy to love characters and a bit of Fantasy Opera and Romance in it.

The Ambassador’s Mission works as a stand alone novel if you want to start with Trudi Canavan but you will understand more of the background and the characters if you read The Black Magician Trilogy before.

The Ambasador’s Mission is a great start for a series, I will definitely get the rest.

Chuck and Sarah spend a lot of time handcuffed to each other this episode and they do say ‘I do’ a lot to, and that’s not a spoiler. Chuck makes me happy, this weeks episode is also the first after the first season finale of this season. Chuck and Sarah finally got together in Paris last episode a few weeks ago. Now we meet them on a train doing the business for days, which is a little weird as they are only going to Zürick. They never leave the cabin the first days until the snarky attendant tell them that the train do have perfectly working diner cars. They decide to give up the spy game and run away together, to celebrate they go to the diner where they separately spot the same bask terrorist. They try to ignore it, but their better self get the upper hand, it’s all amusing the way they both try to back up what they think the other one wants to do.

Meanwhile back in the US, lady boss is getting impatient and tells Casey to go fetch and bring Morgan the Chuck expert with him. They have a cute scene with the CIA search engine, or was it Google? Morgan shows of his Chuck-fu and they are off to Europe. Morgan with a Backpacker bible in one hand and a self created Canadian cover story for himself. Going around being real polite to everyone, because thats what Canadians do.

Ellie and Awesome are going to Africa. Awsome tries to smuggle his weights into the luggage, again. Ellie tells everyone that it doesn’t matter that Chuck isn’t there for her going away party. Lester and Jeff invite themselves to the party and they do a pretty decent song while Ellie drinks herself into a stupor. Are they going to be gone for the rest of the season? Hope not, I love them both, Awesome because he is, well awesome, and Ellie because the way she have no clue what her brother is up to makes for so many entertaining situations and that she is kind of awesome to.

Sarah and Chuck decide to do a last mission before they quit, but it doesn’t exactly go as planned as they try to apprehend the terrorist. It’s lucky Morgan and Casey is there to save the day?

After all the trouble Chuck and Sarah have had earlier in the season it finally worked out for them, this must feel good for all the fans that rooted for them, and then some. Really splendid return on Chuck, emotional, funny, warm and a bit fuzzy.

Flash on!

Chance reunites with a fiery former flame when he is called to South America to rescue an archeologist whose discovery of a lost treasure makes him the target of a South American army and a deadly bounty hunter.

It starts out in a military base in South America with a captured Archeologist named Dough.  He is being questioned about where the treasure is ($40 million of gold in a crashed former dictator’s plane) when Chance rescues him. This whole episode reminds me of McGyver and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Chance get to play off his Spanish before they have to run for it.

Bertram the ruthless and well played bounty hunter is also after the gold and he joins forces with the corrupt colonel to give chase. Here the episode hits on some A-team vibes in my mind.

Chase is there on the request of an old flame he left without any explanation a couple of years ago, in fact right after shooting down the aforementioned plane. Maria and him are clearly attracted to each other but then there is that temperament of hers that gets in the way. Maria is a babe, but she doesn’t pull off her role fully in my opinion. Their bantering eventually comes to their predictable conclusion.

Winston and Guerrero are not waiting in the office in this episode. They are waiting at the airport, but when the military starts to show interests, they are forces to acquire alternative transport since their own pilot is being questioned by the soldiers. It works quite good as comic relief when they hijack what to me looks like an old rugged DC3 with the traditional farm animals in the cabin (so Indiana Jones). Chase sends them on a blind course north, he will be getting back to them about the location of the rebel airfield he know is up there to further comic relief as Winston whine in frustration.

In general I would rate this episode as amusing good natured fun not bringing the big arc so much forward but with a well played Bertram.  As I said before it’s very Indiana Jones meets McGyver with a sprinkle of A-team even with the music. I would have liked to see more of Guerrero as always, I am really fond of that character.

Tonights episode will set Chance against a professional assassin named Baptiste he himself trained many years before.

Sara & Harlan

One of my favorite books is Anne McCaffrey’s first published novel Restoree. It is also a lovely love story. You can tell I have read my copy a couple of times by its rugged looks. Sara is a beak-nosed introverted young librarian from New York who slowly comes out of a drug induced confusion in a beautiful new body apparently caring for another male patient. She had been abducted by the Mil, a race of aliens that eat human flesh. She had been skinned alive and left in a catatonic state by the aliens when it was attacked by humans from the planet Lothar. They saved her and and without her skin mistake her for one of her own and restore her skin to a lovely golden color giving her a nose job at the same time. Now she wakes up caring for another drugged patient, Harlan. He is the deposed regent of the planet. She rescues him from the mental hospital and they flee as his enemies hunt for them. Their love grows as she continues to surprise him by supplying the skills and knowledge they need to escape. She teaches him to sail when they need to steal a boat and she eventually restore him to the regency that is his right.

Anne first wrote this book in anger over the way females where portrayed by science fiction at the time. Hiding in corners while the heroes saved them. The novel was first published in 1967.

Miles & Ekaterin

They meet in Komarr and continue in A Civil Campaign with his secret courting and ultimately very public betrothal to Ekaterin after she saves his beacon. Their marriage is background to another love story in Winterfair Gift. And they go on honeymoon in Diplomatic Immunity.

The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of novels and short stories written by Lois McMaster Bujold most of them is about Miles a physically disabled aristocrat from the planet Barrayar, a planet where ‘mutants’ used to be killed at birth. Miles is determined to prove them all wrong. And he does in a couple of wonderful  books as a mercenary, a spy, statesman and diplomat. Eventually he meets the love of his life, Ekaterin but she is at the time married and as revealed later to a traitor. To further complicate things the husband is later killed under circumstances that  implicate Miles. After Her husbands death Ekaterin returns to live with family on Barrayar.

A family that is very disapproving of Miles. He starts a secret campaign to woo Ekaterin. But his heart might be in the right place but his head is not. There is a very funny but disastrous ’butter bug’ dinner there that is a pleasure to read. The notion that Miles had something to do with killing Ekaterin’s late husband surfaces, but Miles can’t tell the truth due to security reasons. Ekaterin confronts miles and he offers  to take the blame to spare Ekaterin and her son.  They reconcile enough to start to solve their problems and defeat their enemies and it is quite beautiful the way it all works out in the end. With Ekaterin’s shouting match with an upstart Council  Member resulting in them defeating their enemies and their very public betrothal in the end.

It is a very beautiful love story covered in a couple of excellent novels worth reading. The banter between the lovers are medium, Miles knows Ekatering is much smarter than he is.

John Perry & Jane Sagan

John meets Jane the first time believing he sees his dead wife as he is about to die himself. And he is almost dead, as much almost as the advanced medical technology of the colonial union can save and regenerate.

This happens in the second half of Old Man’s War one of the best science fiction I have ever read, written by the talented Mr John Scalzi [profile].

He has been saved by a team from the “Ghost Brigade” and the team leader looks exactly as his dead wife Katy. Next time he sees her is in the mess hall waiting on some burgers. He approach her and thanks her for saving his life as she is about to leave he shows her his wedding photo and wake up after being thrown into a wall.

Jane seeks him out in secret the same night wanting to know more about Katy. John learns that Jane is made from the DNA of his dead wife but heavily modified for the special forces. And she is only six years old. Jane manipulate her commanders to promote Perry and assign him as their liaison on the mission to find out why they where defeated on Coral, the planet she rescued John from. They find out that the aliens have a tachyon detector on the planet that can predict where spaceship will enter normal space. One of Jane’s teammates is killed on the mission. John volunteer to take his place as they are sent to capture  the device. John is instrumental in the success of the mission and saves Jane’s life carrying her on his back several hundred meters in the middle of a firefight to put her into a stasis capsule. Then he drags the capsule out of the building it was in seconds before it explodes. Then he loses sight of her as she returns to the insular Ghost Brigades.

The Ghost Brigades continues Jane’s story and in The Last Colony they are reunited when they are offered a position as leaders of the first colony to be established with people from other colonies.

It helps a lot when she wakes up with an unknown man leaning over her aboard her father’s space cruiser. She succeeds in subduing him and flees the ship half naked in an escape pod. In a desperate attempt to escape her pursuers she heads into the dangerous power-tree forest and crashes into a dark ship. She is rescued by the pilot.

She have run into the Darkship Thieves of legend.

This is a really mesmerizing book, I started reading and after a few pages I was in the world Sarah A. Hoyt created experiencing it from the slightly disturbed mind of a captivating young woman. Athena Hera Sinistra is as much a handful as her name, but it is a handful easy to love as a reader.

The book reminds me of old Space Opera classics like the Skylark series but with much better characterization and world building.

24th century Earth has outlawed all bio-engineering since the revolt against the super engineered sterile Mules that ruled humanity. All Mules and their bio-engineered servants where killed but legend has it a few escaped in a spaceship. Earth civilization is centered around the seacities, each ruled by a Good Man with dictatorial powers, and Daddy Dearest is one of them.

The Darkship Thieves home, Eden is quite different but I won’t ruin the surprise for you.

At the core of the story is the morality of bio-engineering and cloning humans.

I first learned about Sarah A. Hoyt from The Big Idea article about Darkship Thieves on John Scalzi’s blog Whatever and found it quite entertaining that the Big Idea started with Sarah being annoyed. But it wasn’t until I read a rant Blame It on the Girls on Darwin’s evolutions I started to suspect I found a new favorite author. And I was right. Now I can’t wait to read more by Sarah and any sequel to Darkship Thieves would be on the top of my list.

I love Darkship Thieves and Athena the strong heroine, you will too.

Other blog reviews of Darkship Thieves:
- by Ella Drake 13 things she enjoyed with Darkship  Thieves

Dr Mackenzie Connor is back at Norcoast Salmon Research Facility after last years adventures minus an arm. She got a shiny new one instead of the one her metamorphosed Dhryn friend ate. The Dhryn has disappeared from Haven and their other colonies. Emely and the Ro are still gone. Oversight is having trouble with the secrets he isn’t allowed to see, he appear at Base one day and revoke their charter. Mac realises she has to let him se for himself. When they get near where the Ro landed last year Mac recive a message on her imp from Emely. But she can’t read it.

Spread between the chapters in the book are Encounters describing how the Dhryn attack other worlds.

Back at Base she gives the message over to the now resident Minisery Agent, as contact with the Ro is a priority. The Ro might be the only ones that can help them with the Dhryn. The base is shaken by an earthquake that forces them to relocate.

Mac gets three weeks of unwanted vacation. Her co workers conspire to force her to take a real vacation this time against her will. After an offer from her father to go to their family cabin she dumps her agent entourage and goes there.

Then and again she talks to Em, not knowing if she is around wanting her to be back. She cleans up the cabin. One old friend to the family arrive with two aliens asking if they can stay there per the usual arrangement. Mac reluctantly agree .

The aliens are there for a raft trip. The constant  bickering Kay and 14 is quite entertaining. Kay is a Trislian and 14 real name is Arslithissiangee yip the 14 and he is a Myg. Julie is quite talented in creating alien species. They reveal that the rafting trip was a pretence to meet with her and convince her to come to the Gathering the UI has organised to handle the Dhryn threat. 14 is great with numbers and codes so Mac gives him the message from Emely.

Soon after Nik arrives, the love interest of this story and also an agent of the Ministry. He was supposed to stop her on orders from his superiors from going but was “delayed”.  They have some frustrating days, being interrupted all the time until he has to leave. 

When Kay and Mac hike alone he goes back to the cabin alone faking being angry with her. When she comes there she discover 14 in the fridge unconsious. Kay has hit him over the head and taken the decrypted message with him. Mac and 14 are stalked by the male Trislian Kay left behind but they are saved in the last minute by Oversight. The cavalry arrive and Mac passes out.

Only to wake up at the Gathering. More planets have been attacked. She is assigned to head the Origin team, finding out how a race like the Dhryn could come to be. She is confronted by the archeologists that lost one of their own to Bhrymn the Dhryn she brought to their camp when he metamorphosedint the eater form. She handles it and propose what they see is the Dhryn migrating like the salmon. The more they learn about the Dhryn the more it becomes clear, at least to Mac that it there is something more behind it, she becomes more and more convinced someone have weaponized the Dhryn.

14 survived the attack and it is an instruction on how to contact the Ro. They have just begun sending the signal when the Dhryn arrive in the Sol system and start heading for earth. It is a showdown with the Dhryn, the Ro and Emily. Much will be revealed.

I officially upgrade this to one of my favorite series. Now I am frustrated the third book isn’t here yet.

Hurricane Katrina and the explosion at the vampire Summit has Louisiana’s supernatural community hard pressed. Sookie is safe but dazed and her were-tiger boyfriend is among the missing.

Sookie meets her great-grandfather Niall Brigant, a Fairy.

There is mysterious deaths among the local Were community. Sookie gets involved as Friend Of The Pack. They discover an even bigger plot. The conflict decimate the weres and leaves Alcide Herveaux as the new Pack Leader.

The power vacuum in the vampire society bring in opportunist from Vegas that try to take over Louisiana from the injured Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq, and Sookie ends up in the middle of it, determined to help her friends. Through a very thorough “ambush” Felipe de Castro, King of Nevada, becomes the new King of Louisiana and Arkansas. Eric Northman survive as the only sheriff to do so by being more bad-ass than the invaders. King Filipe accepts his fealty.

Vampire Diaries have a definite Smallvillefeel to it. I have jumped to conclusions before about new series and been wrong, so I won’t this time. The allure is towards romantic drama for sure. The first episode felt jumpy.

Sookie has a date with Quinn, the weretiger from the last book. When they are attacked by two werewolfs who Quinn makes short works of. Sookie are not sure they where trying to kill him or her?

But ´Sookie soon has more pressing problems. Her Cousin Hadley, a vampire has been murdered and Sookie has inherited her apartment. So Sookie has to go off to pre-hurricane New Orleans to solve the murder mystery. You doesn’t say no when a demon tells you to go.

It is tricky business, New Orleans being the home of the dead, there is a witch that lives downstairs and Hadley’s lover was Sophie-Ann Leclerq, the Queen of Louisiana, an omnisexual vampire, whose political marriage to the King of Arkansas occurred the night before Hadley’s demise.

I especially like Amelia Broadway a cool young witch and Hadleys landlady. She and sookie are soon up to their necks in magical troubles starting with the newly made vampire in closet.

Eric and Bill comes and visit Sookie. Bill reveal that he came to Bon Temps on the orders of the Queen after Hadly told her of Sookies telepathicpowers, to get her services for the Queen, seducing her if necessary.  Sookie is heartbroken and furious so she sends Bill away.

The end is action packed with some were-related kidnappings, Quinn and Sookie together and a great Ball at the Castle …

Someone is killing non humans. A sniper is loose in Bon Themps killing mainly shape shifters.

Alcide the werewolf tries to use Sookie at the Packmaster Contest, that doesn’t sit well with her. Quinn a magnificent weretiger moderates the event.

Jason is having trouble with the werephanters, they believe he is the shooter. Calvin Norris is the leader of the inbreed werepanther village he fancies Sookie.

Sam Merlotte gets shot and have to ask Eric for a replacement bartender.

Half of Sookies house burns down and she is saved by her Fairy godmother Claudine.

Another troubled time for our Sookie. She really do have trouble with men.

Sookies luck turns from bad to worse, Bill the computer geek vampire goes to Peru for research when Eric turns up naked with no memory of who he is. Witches have attacked Bon Temps and one of them have cursed Eric. Sookie is hired to house Eric while a way to fight back is found. A Witch Coven has taken up residence in the next big town. No-memories Eric and Sookie eventually begin a sexual relationship, Eric falls in love, he even offer to leave his life as a Sheriff and come and live with Sookie.

A sub plot is about the disappearance of Jason, Sookies brother. It introduces a nearby inbreed village of conflicted werepanthers.

The climax of the story is the combined shifter and vampire attack on the werewolf and vampire blood boosted coven. The witches are defeated. The lead witch is forced to reverse the curse on Eric before being put down. Eric forgets everything that has transpired during the curse.

At the end of the book, Jason is rescued from his were-panther captors, but not before being bitten.

A real Fairy, Claudine is introduced in this book. Here she saves Sookie when she falls asleep behind the wheel.

This might be the 3rd season of True blood. There is more Shapeshifters in this one.

Vampire Bill is kidnapped in the city of Shreveport while doing secret work for the queen of Louisiana, and Sookie sets out to rescue him with the help of the handsome werewolf Alcide Herveaux. Bill is being held and tortured by his maker, Lorena. With the help of Alcide, Eric the Viking vampire and Bubba Sookie eventually rescues Bill, only to break off their relationship when she understands that Bill has been unfaithful with Lorena (Bill also raped Sookie, which also might have something to do with it).

The original version of True Blood season 2. Love it.

This is a placeholder, I will be back and write more.

Living Dead in Dallas covers season 2 of True Blood but there are major differences:

• Lafayette dies at the beginning (in the car)
• Maryann isn’t as evil and her name is Callisto. Eric pays her tribute and she moves on.
• It isn’t Tara in that car who meets Maryann, it’s Sookie. She send Sookie with a message for Eric.