Irene Radford

Once I'd realised this was solely an Arthurian fantasy, and wasn't going to jump into the future (descendants implies a longer timescale) I could enjoy it properly. It's a very well worked retelling of some of the myths. The choice of protagonist as an unknown childhood friend worked very well.

Wren is Merlin's secret daughter. The gods forgave his one night of passion on Beltane, and charged him to look after her in addition to his responsibilities to Britain. Wren has grown up knowing her show more father's love, and gained only some of his secrets, and a few of the Morrigan's and a few of her own. Fairies speak to her, when the conditions are right, and she remains steadfast in her obedience to the Old Gods despite the spread of christianity. As the years pass, Britain grows more troubled and the old king Uther finally dies. Her father reveals that Wren's old playmate is truly Arthur, but by this time Wren has been married off to a husband not of her choosing. The only was Merlin can assure her safety in these wild times. Wren's husband is more brute than any expected and has ties to the demon worshipping Naeme and Morgaine. He is often away, and Wren manages to carve an oasis of calm in the small caer she rules in his name.

It's complex. You do need some familiarity with the more common interpretations to get the best out of this I think. The story is always Wren's rather than Arthur's and better for it, but it does mean that some of the more famous events only get a passing mention. Wren endures a lot, but remains a wonderfully inspiring character, honest to herself and the world around her, and always mindful of the required balance between the elements and powers around her. there's very little magic as such, a little faerie that creeps in, and the demons. It's not fast, and covers an entire life, but the pacing is well done with enough action and time covered to always keep you interested. Some actions have long consequences as they should do.

I enjoyed this, I'm not sure there is sufficient for a series of 5 but I will certainly try the next. show less

Initially I thought Steampunk Voyages was an anthology of short stories by different writers. I enjoy the variety of such collections, and if any story is not to my taste, at least it's only one of many. However, this turned out to be a book of short stories all by one author and I was soon regretting that as I began reading.

Radford’s writing is clumsy and awkward, bland at best and laughably trite at worst. The characters are unconvincing, the action is boring, and the dialogue is show more cringe-inducing - completely artificial and particularly painful in any attempt at dialect. I forced myself to read the first few stories in their entirety, but ended up having to skim the rest; I could not bring myself to wade through the graceless, boring prose. The stories read like self-indulgent fanfic, heavy on the superficial trappings of steampunk but light on any actual significance. This is especially disappointing in light of the introduction, in which Radford says that steampunk is more than “just lace, velvet, goggles and grease.” Yet it seems like this is all that she is able to draw on with her stories.

Steampunk has unfortunately acquired a reputation as a genre of style and no substance, and even that style has become cliched and embarrassing - just glue some cogs on stuff and wear goggles on your top hat, right? It seems the punk aspect of the concept has been forgotten; instead creating subversive, challenging ideas, the genre has fallen into staid banality, a sorry state for what could be a vibrant and exciting subculture. Steampunk Voyages seems to embody this lame condition, and the result is an insipid and mortifying book. show less

Confessions of a Piano Demon by Irene Radford is the second book in her urban fantasy series about the international Guild of Vampire and Demon Hunters. Margot Tremayne was on the verge of winning a major piano competition and launching her career. When a demon crushed her hands of the night before the competition, she thought she had lost all her music. Fifteen years later, she has rebuilt her life and is now a successful conductor, composer and teacher. Abigail Fitzwarrn, the
Director of show more the international Guild of Vampire and Demon Hunters, convinces her to go back to the haunted Yorkshire manor to be a judge at the competition and to face the demon. She is joined by a new field agent, Archie Driscoll, who is posing as a contestant. The demon has become increasingly dangerous and needs to be banished permanently. It is up to Margot and Archie to defeat the demon before he kills more musicians who violate his concept of “perfect music”.

I have read, and enjoyed, more traditional fantasy by this author and was curious about how she would handle an urban fantasy. As a musician myself, I really enjoyed that the novel was set at a music competition and that most of the characters were musicians. The ancient Yorkshire manor and neighbouring village were also interesting backdrops to the story. All the characters were complex and well rounded. There were some characters that had also appeared in the first book in the series, but I don’t think it is necessary to have read the first book to appreciate this one. There is some romance between Archie and Margot, but it didn’t get in the way of the plot of the novel. I liked that Archie is not your typical alpha male and Margot is not a damsel in distress and this isn’t a typical HEA romance. They work well as partners in the fight against the demon.

I would recommend this book for readers who enjoy urban fantasy. show less

I liked this, a colonisation effort has discovered a planet where they can interact with the harmonic vibrations of that planet's soul. Isolated from mainstream humanity they control the export of a very rare alloy, which both humanity's space force and the local aliens badly need for their war. Works surprisingly well.

The focus jumps between an uneducated Worker caste girl who finds herself the next true High Priestess of Harmony able to intercede with the planet - ish; and a milita pilot show more who's recruited to attempt a spy mission on the planet and retrieve the formula for the metal before the aliens invade. You can probably guess the rest, it does more or less unfold as you'd expect. But it's well written with empathetic characters. Sissy the new High Priestess is completely charming, but her naivity struggles against the corruption in the temple. Sadly this is perhaps the least believable aspect as she learns to manipulate hardened priests far to quickly. The "science" is sadly lacking even Jake's attempted explanations to himself don't hold water. Hopefully this is all resolved somewhere along the line.

Enjoyable. The book ends decisively, but a trilogy has been written, which I'm likely to explore. show less