AurealisMagazine's reviews from LibraryThing

Curse the Dawn (Cassandra Palmer, Book 4) by Karen Chance

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:42:17 -0500

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Crisetta MacLeod Normally I would reject this book as clichéd. There are the familiar tropes—the all-powerful but caring, sexually magnetic, boss vampire; the evil being which threatens to break into our world and destroy it; the appointed leader whose existence causes strife because she is not universally acknowledged. There’s even the cover—scantily clad, gun-toting moll. But in spite of usually being turned off by such things, I found it to be fun, fast-moving, and original. One claustrophobic scene, where a world magic-centre is destroyed by the sabotaging of a ley-line transport system, had me gasping for breath. The heroine Cassie, powerful Pythia leader of the clairvoyants, rescues those trapped in caverns underground. The Vampires are goodies here, protecting Cassie in all her doings. It’s the language, though, that had me laughing out loud and turning the pages. Here’s a description of Cassie’s bodyguard, Pritkin, for example: “He has the social skills of a wet cat, and the patience of a caffeinated hummingbird.” Curse the Dawn is one of a series, but I enjoyed it without having read any of the others. There are curious and believable characters and you’ll find yourself laughing at them and loving them."
Onyx (2009), Edition: 1, Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages

The Scarecrow (The Broken Land - 3) by Sean Williams

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:39:09 -0500

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Stuart Mayne Sean Williams' entrancing children's series, The Broken Lands trilogy, comes to an end with The Scarecrow, after The Changeling and The Dust Devils. The strength of this series lays in its continued emphasis on a young person's need to learn how to trust, and when to act on that trust. Knowing who to trust is a valuable skill for people of all ages to learn and a skill that is vital to develop as quickly as possible given the online bullying that is currently occurring for many teenagers. Because all that is gold does not glitter. Ros and Adi head to the coast on Know it All, the camel, hoping to drop the crystal that contains the Golem of Omus into the depths of the sea. But upon reaching the alien waters of the coast, things go wrong and Ros, once again, has difficult choices to make, on the advice of people he is not sure he should trust. This has been a great series."

This is Not a Game by Walter Jon Williams

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:23:13 -0500

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Crisetta MacLeod. Gamers, rejoice! You’ll be right into this one. It’s set in the near future, when online RPG’s now include Virtual Reality as well as RL (Real Life) quests and puzzles for millions of players. The main protagonists were gaming tragics at College together, and all four have made their life out of different aspects of commercial gaming. There is bad history between them, though. and when one of their number is murdered, Dagmar, our storyteller, sets her millions of players to catch the killer. The title's acronym, TINAG, is used to help players know when communications are not part of play; getting players to separate reality from the game is not that easy, though! Nation after nation is threatened with financial collapse—is international insider trading to blame, or is there a glitch in online robot traders, established years ago and now unstoppable, like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice? The opening chapters, where Dagmar has to get herself out of Jakarta after the economy there collapses, leading to rioting and mayhem, set the scene for fast-paced action, and more twists in the plot than a handful of taffy. Gamers, eat your heart out!"
Orbit (2009), Paperback, 400 pages

The Gollancz Space Opera Collection

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:55:05 -0500

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Stuart Mayne The Century Light, Century Rain, Eon, Eternal Light, Ilium, Last and First Men, Rendezvous with Rama, Ringworld, Stone, Tau Zero. Quite an impressive list don’t you think? Of course, evenings at the bar could be spent arguing the merits of this list or selecting perfectly acceptable replacements. No collection will ever suit every science fiction aficionado. But I’m all for publishers making lists, especially a publisher like Gollancz who has been brave enough to publish comprehensive collections of speculative fiction via their "Masterworks of …" collections. These series make it possible for the fan to access significant works that may have been out of print for decades. Some book retailers have told me they hate the covers (simple black and white using a different paper theme on each book). Hmm, sounds weak; the physical book looks great to my eyes. Simple and clean. The difficulty I find with these small collections, like the recent Ultimate Fantasies Sequence (from Gollancz again) is that they are small enough that a new fan might like to buy the entire series, but would be unable to find them together on the bookshop shelves as retailers list their shelves alphabetically by author. Publishers and book retailers need to get back on the same page when it comes to these important collections."

Vulture's Gate by Kirsty Murray

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:29:28 -0500

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Crisetta MacLeod Kirsty Murray has convincingly described an Australian dystopia in which Avian flu mutated and wiped out almost all females. Bo was protected in an outback hideaway by her grandfather. She rescues Callum, abducted from his two fathers by outback ferals. The two are on the run together. Murray writes engagingly about Callum’s response to seeing Bo naked, the first female he has ever encountered. They head to Vulture’s Gate (Sydney) to rediscover Callum’s fathers, who he believes will nurture them. When they reach the city, it is in ruins, and the society Callum remembers has degenerated. There is the familiar trope of a corrupt ruling class, exploiting drone boys, born in vitro, who are the workforce. Two communities are attempting to bring down the upper class; the Festers, a group of rescued boys, discarded from the workforce, and Gaia, suicidal religious zealots planning to rid the world of destructive mankind. Callum is horrified to find his surviving father is a member. Meanwhile, Bo is imprisoned with the few remaining girls, kept to harvest their eggs. Predictably, Callum and Bo prevail, and escape by sea with the girls to make a fresh start. One male only? Watch this space!"
Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2009.

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:18:35 -0500

AurealisMagazine's review: "Reviewed by Karen Simpson Nikakis Monzcarro and her brother Benna are mercenaries in the pay of Orso, Duke of Talins, and highly successful they are too. Monzcarro as a swordswoman and brilliant strategist, Benna as a diplomat and conniving accountant of looted goods and services. So successful are they that the Duke fears they will one day supplant him and arranges their murders. With Benna dead, Monzcarro’s broken body is patched back together by the mysterious Bone-Thief and she sets out to avenge her brother’s death. One by one she murders those who ended Benna’s life. But revenge is not without risk, and the brutal journey of retribution can throw up uncomfortable truths and shocking surprises. The vengeful episodes are broken by flashbacks of Monzcarro and Benna’s early lives which gives some context to Monzcarro’s present situation, but this novel remains an exceedingly bloody read. There are speared, smashed, pulverised and poisoned corpses in abundance and a bit of cannibalism thrown in for good measure. The narrative does touch on the moral cost of murder and mayhem, but any moral truths tend to get lost in the gore-soaked barbarism."
Gollancz (2009), Hardcover, 544 pages

Arrival (Book 1 of The Phoenix Files) by Chris Morphew

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:31:22 -0500

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Lachlan Huddy In a YA landscape fraught with tween princesses and underage wizards, young sci-fi fans have been left in the lurch. Where are the conspiracy-cracking, planet-saving youngsters of yore? Our new Animorphs and Johnny Quests? Aussie Chris Morphew has the answer: in a small outback town called Phoenix. The compelling conceit upon which The Phoenix Files turn—in a hundred days the world will end, sparing only Phoenix—is but the tip of what's set to be a hefty iceberg. The first book of six, Arrival plunges teen heroes Luke (narrator and thoughtful leader), Jordan (feisty action girl), and Peter (smartarse), into a web of corporate conspiracy, mortal peril and Adults Who Shouldn't Be Trusted—and that's saying nothing of the maladjusted superpowered hobo. Intrigued? It's easy to be, especially with Morphew's mastery of dialogue and teenage characterisation. Arrival's not perfect, of course—being the introductory chapter, it simmers rather than boils—but as Phoenix's secrets begin unravelling you'll thrill to what this series is shaping up to be: a rousing adventure in which the kids save the world by themselves, probably on a school night, when mum and dad aren't looking. Just how it's supposed to be."
Prahran, Vic. : Hardie Grant Egmont, 2009.

The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:26:24 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Karen Simpson Nikakis This book begins with the family tree of the Kings and Queens of Sand and Stone and Salt. Ah good, I thought. This will simplify the task of coming to grips with the intricate relationships common in narratives that use political intrigue as a plot driver. My confidence became a little less when the next page revealed the family tree of the Kings of the Endless Sea, followed by the Kings and Queens of the Plains, followed by the family tree of the King of the Worldspine. Nowhere does it suggest that this volume is the first in a series, but given the complexity of the various factions, and the ending, it surely is. I was quickly drawn into the richly and convincingly drawn worlds but was troubled by not knowing which character or group of characters I should care about. One of the key players shows himself to be a murderer in the Prologue and does nothing to redeem himself as the narrative unfolds. Others—like the sell-swords (assassins)—appear to be bit players, but then keep turning up. This won’t be a problem for anyone who prefers a fast and exciting read over more complex character development."
Gollancz (2009), Paperback, 384 pages

A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:24:33 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Crisetta MacLeod This is urban fantasy at its very best–an extraordinary tour de force. It’s told in the first person plural by Matthew Swift, a sorcerer who has been resurrected and reanimated by the myriad voices, emotions and memories accumulated in the telephone wires. London must be saved from tyrannical sorcery, led by Swift’s former mentor. Magic is drawn from the very fabric of the city–“Sorcery is a point of view, that is all it is.” I loved the scene where a threatening monster is kept at bay with an incantation, read from the small print of a London Transport ticket. Lovers of London will relish the details of its highways and byways as Swift seeks collaboration from Bikies, the Beggar Kind, the Bag Lady and other memorably described magical city dwellers. There are many violent and bloody struggles, deceptions, betrayals, but the driving force is revenge for Swift’s original death. Swift has his own ontological struggles–is he human, or is he just a collection of memories and emotions gathered together by the blue electric angels in the telephone wires, who want to experience human sensations in a human body? Read this one, it’ll linger with you."
Orbit (2009), Paperback, 496 pages

Zima Blue by Alastair Reynolds

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:20:58 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Stuart Mayne This companion volume to Galactic North showcases Alastair Reynolds’ short fiction writing. Fifteen years of short work ranging from near future to deep time and space. In Reynolds’ universes there may be wars, there may be catastrophes and cosmic errors, but something human will still survive. I loved Galactic North and was keen to compare Zima Blue with Reynolds’ other short fiction. This first thing that struck me was the near future brace of stories; one of which, ‘Cardiff Afterlife’, is new to this edition, having first been published in The Big Issue Cymru. That’s the Welsh edition btw. These two stories are a departure from the usual Reynolds’ fare, dealing with parallel worlds, and are an interesting counter point to his middle future work. Also added to this edition are the story ‘Minla’s Flowers’ which first saw light of day in The New Space Operaanthology in 2007 and ‘Everlasting’, which is a story from Interzone 2004. You want to write science fiction short fiction of the highest calibre? Then use Zima Blue or Galactic North as your inspiration. Alastair Reynolds is a master of the short fiction form and an aspiring science fiction writer will do worse than deconstructing his story structure."
Gollancz (2009), Hardcover, 416 pages

The Edge of the World (Terra Incognita) by Kevin J. Anderson

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:17:43 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Karen Simpson Nikakis Having heard Kevin J. Anderson speak a couple of years ago at Conflux in Canberra, I was eager to get my hands on one of his books. He’s a prolific author and at Conflux told of sometimes using a dictaphone to record his novels on his daily walks so his secretary could type up the first draft, and of co-authoring (splitting chapter writing) with others. His newsletters often show him at airports beavering away on a laptop too. Like most writers, I work full time in another job, so this sort of approach was a revelation to me and I wondered (jealously?) whether his work (despite him being an ‘international bestseller’) could be any good. For about the first 160 pages I didn’t know who was who and didn’t particularly care. But an odd thing happened at about page 160 (I actually looked at the page number). I was suddenly gripped. It may be that the mass of different characters and cultural practices shuffled into the correct parts of my brain, but I suspect it was because the narrative began to show—with horrifying clarity—how small incidents coupled with acts of savage religious zealotry, can suck everybody into a catastrophic war. From then on, the story held me enthralled."
Orbit (2009), Paperback, 592 pages

The Angel's Cut by Elizabeth Knox

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:11:14 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Crisetta MacLeod What can an angel do when he loses his wings? Xas tries to stay in the air by becoming a stunt flyer in the early days of both Hollywood’s film industry and of aviation. He becomes involved with an equally maimed human, Flora McLeod, and finally becomes voluntarily earthbound in order to rear her child. She had been an early Hollywood starlet, until a stupid prank burned away her beauty and her career, leaving her in constant pain. Set in the 1920’s, this is a credible and engrossing re-creation of the early days of silent movies and aviation. In a Faster than Light Podcast interview, Elizabeth Knox explains how she changes the names of her main characters (such as the identifiable Howard Hughes) but retains contemporary fictitious characters created by Scott Fitzgerald. A sequel is promised! Itself a sequel to the bestseller The Vintner’s Cut, soon to be released as a film, Knox reckons The Angel’s Cut “persecuted her” until she was forced to write it, despite interruptions from other novels in between. Read this one, see the film, get caught up in a fallen angel’s moral dilemmas!"
HarperCollins Australia

Shadow Queen by Deborah Kalin

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:02:43 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Lachlan Huddy An Aussie we can be proud of, Deborah Kalin’s debut is a striking, infuriating, endlessly surprising and wonderfully disturbing work, penned in prose whose clarity, wit and elegance more seasoned wordsmiths must dream about. The first of two novels, Shadow Queen follows young princess Matilde, after her family is slain and her throne stolen by the power-hungry Dieter. Forced to wed him and bound by dark magic, Matilde searches for a way to reclaim her crown, but with everyone in the upheaved kingdom now against her—and the fearsome Ilthean Empire baying at the borders—prospects are grim. The cover blurb calls Matilde an unforgettable character and it doesn’t lie; she’s a young woman trapped in everything but thought, constantly fighting for a way clear. If she’s not always sympathetic it’s because Kalin’s honest writing delivers a deeply human heroine, prey to fear, embarrassment and pride, and who, cornered with decisions upon which lives balance, doesn’t always choose rightly. She feels real, though, and even if you bemoan her actions you’ll understand them every time. As a study of an unbreakable young woman battling the manifold barriers that ensnare her, Shadow Queen succeeds as surely as we hope Matilde will."
ALLEN & UNWIN - Arena

The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:50:21 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Crisetta MacLeod I am in awe of the sheer virtuosity with which Larke has created her world. Water, or rather the scarcity of water, is the basis of government, economy, social hierarchy and even religion. The Stormlord ability, which can pull water from the sea, and send it where needed, is a hereditary gift. There is a conspiracy to kill off those with degrees of this ability, to return to human warfare and the vagaries of climate. The main protagonist, Shale, lives in an impoverished slum, but has latent water power, and this leads to his kidnapping, and attempts to murder him, as the last living Stormlord’s powers weaken and there is no-one to replace him. The love interest comes from Shale’s relationship with Terelle, who has the ability to alter the future by her paintings, but the powers-that-be need Shale to breed with someone with water talent. Warlike Reduners seek to overpower the other settlements, when growing water shortages lead to the threat of anarchy. One of their weapons is a dreadful insect called a zigger, which attacks by entering orifices and eating the victim from the inside. What a tale! Can’t wait for the next instalment. This is a GREAT book. I was so sad when I finished it; luckily it's going to be a trilogy. AND, she's Australian."
Pymble, N.S.W. : HarperCollins Australia, 2009.

The Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:27:32 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Carissa Thorp: The Book of a Thousand Days was first released in 2007 to great acclaim. This year Bloomsbury have re-released it, along with Hale's other novels, with a gorgeous and eye-catching new cover. I'm glad they did, because I missed it the first time around, and am glad I was able to read it, finally. In a Mongolian-spiced fantasy world, Dashti, a young girl who has already known great hardship and loneliness, finds herself imprisoned in a tower with her newly aquired mistress, a Lady who refused an offer of marriage and is being punished for it by her father. The sentence is seven years, unless the Lady relents and agrees to the marriage; something Dashti comes to realise will never happen. Graced with a spirited and steadfast heroine in Dashti, and told in her clear, sensible and deliciously funny voice, diary-style, The Book of a Thousand Days is a joy to read and never boring, despite the women's imprisonment, and frequently heart-breaking, tense, and generous. Dashti makes the best of her situation, even though her Lady is going mad, their food is disappearing fast, and threats from outside the tower loom. Her gift of healing with song, her ability to give of herself, and her patience, make her a character to remember. And her story is surprising, unique and so very well told. Recommended."
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (2009), Paperback, 320 pages

Witches Incorporated (Rogue Agent) by K.E. Mills

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:25:47 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Crisetta MacLeod: Here’s a society where magic is part of the everyday economy. Gerald the apprentice wizard, who doesn’t yet realise the extent of his skills, is on his first assignment. The ‘gels’, Melissande, Emmerabiblia and a crow called Reg, are struggling to establish an investigative Witch outfit. They have to prove that cheating is skewing the results of the local pastry-making competition; Gerald is trying to find out why magical gate transporters are malfunctioning. These two threads will cross and intertwine in a book that has a wonderful light touch, even when things are exploding dangerously. The repartee between all the protagonists is exaggeratedly funny—the crow in particular has a great line in snappy comebacks. She contributes to both investigations with her bird’s eye view of events. The ‘gels’ are very conscious of gender inequalities, because whatever their abilities, as females they are considered unimportant; and there is the matter of Great-Uncle Throgmorton’s will, which left nothing at all to his female relatives. Melissande wears tweed trews as a feminist protest—not a protest I would hurry to emulate, they must be very itchy! A very merry, witty story."
Orbit (2009), Paperback, 496 pages

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:21:50 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Lachlan Huddy: At last! A literary feminist zombie novel. If you’ve ever wondered how the world would look a few centuries after George Romero’s undead apocalypse—and how a thoughtful, inquisitive and unbreakably determined young heroine might fare in such a place—search no further than Carrie Ryan’s powerful debut. Life in Mary’s village is oppressive; laws, customs and religion are enforced by the ironfisted nuns of the Sisterhood, while beyond the chainlink fences that hem the town in hover the shambling masses of Unconsecrated, just gagging for a mouthful of the other white meat. The gated path leading away from the village is strictly off-limits, but Mary begins to wonder about the world outside. If the set-up sounds familiar that’s only because it’s a great storytelling vehicle, and Ryan’s tale both fulfills genre expectations, with its dwindling band of travellers battling starvation and fatigue as much as infection and devourment, and subverts them with some intriguing variations on flesh-chomping lore. It’s an uncompromisingly bleak book, and only thin rays of light—along with Mary’s fiercely dogged grip on her hope for something better—stave off total despair, reminding us that even in a world gone to hell dreams are the difference between living and merely surviving."
Gollancz (2009), Hardcover, 320 pages

Dream Warrior (Dream Hunter) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:17:59 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Karen Simpson Nikakis: This is a story for readers who like their gods with attitude. Zeus is a nasty piece of work whose main pleasure, or so it seems, over the eternity of his existence, is revenge. Noir and Azura are equally unpleasant and in the opposing camp, plotting to seize Zeus’s power. The pawns in the power play are a host of minor gods and demons, that are snatched, coerced, captured and suborned back and forth between the warring parties. Throw into the mix the handsome god Cratus/Jericho, whose refusal of Zeus’s command to continue mindlessly killing condemns him to eternal damnation, a young and beautiful dream-hunter whose selfless love offers him salvation, and wise-cracking minions of both sides. The quest is to win Cratus/Jericho to the ‘good’ side, for as the young dream-hunter says, if they don’t, they are screwed. The struggle is a heady blend of the ancient and modern, flavored with the tenderness of new love, the spice of sex and a garnish of dry humor that all makes for an enjoyable read."
Piatkus Books (2009), Paperback, 320 pages

Mind Over Ship by David Marusek

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:14:45 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Christine Tursky Gordon: Mind Over Ship is a sequel to Counting Heads in which powerful financier Eleanor Starke is killed and the damaged head of her adult daughter Ellen has been grafted onto the body of a child. The interwoven plot lines deserve some concentration and are satisfying and intricate, but the real joy of this book is in the wealth of fascinating concepts that David Marusek has developed. This is a richly detailed world, with differences and extrapolations from our own that shape society in surprising ways. Communities of human clones have formed their own cultural norms and collective reputations, corporate power blocks are trying to derail a galactic colonisation program, a marriage between members of two different clone groups is being put under strain by conflicting yet overlapping group agendas, and a sequestered research group has done some really amazing things with fish. Marusek’s world is full of intricate detail and fascinating examinations of new concepts. This is exactly what I look for in a new book, and he certainly delivers."
Tor Books (2008), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 320 pages

The Grand Conjunction by Sean Williams

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:11:45 -0400

AurealisMagazine's review: "Review by Stuart Mayne: Imre Bergamasc is lost. His search for answers has led him up an alley so blind even his sense of self has become uncertain. Before he can save the galaxy from ruin, he must find the strength to carry on and reclaim his ultimate purpose. But more than two million years in our future, the fight has changed—former allies are now enemies, and enemies have taken on entirely new forms. Chased from the very edge of humanity’s vast empire into the heart of an ancient conspiracy, he must finally come face to face with Himself, for without the truth of his part, Humanity’s future will never be secured. Wow. A grand conjunction of mature plotting, dependable writing and rip roaring science fiction adventure comes to an end. This kind of new space opera makes my mouth water. While Sean Williams writes of humanity as it will always be, he has the ability to invent horizons that defy belief. That is a grand gift. Sean Williams’ ability to astound is still growing and developing. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why he was awarded the Peter McNamara Award."
London : Orbit, 2009.