Tanya Huff

"The Silvered" is a fantasy novel with some very original twists on classic tropes relating to Werewolves and Mages. It also confronts the evil that can be generated when the actions of an insane leader are left unchecked in the interests of political and economic stability.

"The Silvered" is set in a world where werewolves (The Pack - male and mostly military) and Mages (The Mage Pack -female, gifted with scents that the Pack find irresistible and with a talent of Air, Earth, Water, Fire, show more Metal or Healing magic) form the ruling class of a small country that is being invaded by the ever-expanding Empire, a military state on the edge of its industrial revolution, that is just being to develop weapons that allow large scale killing from a distance.

Tanya Huff does a very good job of making her readers rethink their assumption in this book. Science is made to seem unnatural and somehow inhuman compared to the use of magic. Men who turn into wolves and the women who marry them, bear their children and support them through the use of magic, are made to seem civilised and honourable, while the human soldiers who come to rid the world of these "abominations" are made to seem brutish and or unthinking.

Tanya Huff uses the book to explore the use and abuse of power. She asks whether some things are simply wrong and not to be tolerated no matter what the cost of opposing them. She shows the way in which evil is unleashed when we dehumanise or demonise our enemies, turning them into things so that we can abuse and kill them with self-righteous impunity. She makes us consider the nature of duty and loyalty, the limits to following orders and whether it is treason to stand up to evil when it is being committed by your own Head of State.

The main characters are wonderfully drawn, both as people and as archetypes. Miriam, a Mage of apparently very little power, who takes on the Empire because it has to be done and she was the only one there, is brave without being heroic. Danika, the Alpha of the Mage Pack, who refuses to be give in to fear, pain, imprisonment or torture because she has a responsibility to the people she leads is not a fearless leader but she is a brave one. Captain Reiter, an Imperial soldier who knows the difference between what must be done in combat and what must not be accepted in everyday life and who can't help acting on what he knows. Then there is the beautifully wrought and horribly real evil of the Emperor: charming, charismatic, educated, gifted with an insatiable curiosity, in love with the scientific method and utterly, irredeemably insane.

Captain Reiter, forced to spend time in the Emperor's company, captures the chilling danger of the Emperor when he observes that the Emperor

"...didn't sound crazy when he talked. He sounded rationale. Scientific. Smart... When he talked, it was hard to remember what he meant."

I don't want to give the impression that "The Silvered" is a didactic work. It is first and foremost a wonderfully written, tightly plotted, edge of the seat, Fantasy novel. Tanya Huff effortlessly masters telling the story from multiple points of view, pulling the threads together with just the right amount of tension and making me care about each of the characters the story is told through. The world-building is first-rate, crammed with original ideas but never pushing so far into the foreground that the world eclipses the people who live in it.

I originally bought the audiobook version of "The Silvered" but I sent it back and bought the ebook version instead because I just couldn’t listen to Dee Macaluso murdering the text. What a shame that Marguerite Gavin, who did a great job with the "Confederation" novels wasn't given "The Silvered" to narrate. show less

An Ancient Peace is billed as the first book in the Peacekeeper series, but we fans can consider it as book six in the Confederation series because it's the continuing adventures of ex-Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr.

It's been a year since the events of book five, The Truth of Valor. The Confederation Justice Department is still using Torin and her team for covert operations. Besides Torin herself, the team consists of her sexy Craig Ryder (still most determinedly a civilian), three other show more ex-Marines: Binti Mashona, and bonded Krai pair Ressk and Werst; and Alamber di'Cikeys, the emotionally damaged young di'Taykan rescued from a pirate space station. (Binti is of African descent, in case you were wondering if all of the humans on the team were white. Binti and Torin may be the only females, but Torin is the boss and Binti the sniper.)

The book opens with the team against what would be a white supremacist organization if it were set on Earth in the present day. Instead it's a humans supremacist organization. Their rants are going to sound very familiar. We also get a couple of snippets about an earlier job Torin's team did against a furrier. This being science fiction, pat yourself on the back if you've already guessed that those furs were being made out of a sentient species.

If that's not bad enough, the team's next assignment is to try to stop unknown persons from finding and retrieving H'san weapons from the cemetery planet where they were buried. Throughout the earlier books there were a lot of expressions involving the H'san. They were the first sentient species to turn away from war. They founded the Confederation, which consists of the Elder Races, the Mid Races, and the Younger Races.

Now that the war with the Primacy is winding down, there are members of Parliament who think that the Younger Races need to be contained since they're no longer needed to protect the Confederation. (Humans, di'Taykans, and Krai make up the Younger Races. The Silsviss who were being courted in book one, Valor's Choice, had not yet become full members in book five. I'm betting their chances have dropped to almost nothing.) Military Intelligence fears that if Parliament finds out that someone is trying to retrieve those H'san weapons, it would be the excuse needed to enforce that threatened containment. The location of that H'san cemetery planet is not known to members of the Younger Races. How the grave robbers found it is unknown. Only because one or more of them sold some H'san artifacts has the attempt come to light.

In short, Torin's team has to find the planet and stop the attempt with almost no information and no overt help. If caught, they will be disavowed. (Cue the 'Mission Impossible' theme.) Good thing Alamber worked for a crime lord -- he can advise the ex-marines and Craig about dealing with persons engaged in illegal commerce.

NOTES (Where to find information from previous books and facts learned in this one):

Chapter 1:

a. We get hate monger Richard Varga's background.

b. A Lieutenant Cole lectured on trigger discipline.

c. Tsk. Craig's eyes are described as pale gray here. In chapter two of book two, Torin noticed that they were very blue.

d. See chapter 11 of book five for that shuttle bay fight on Vrijheid Station.

e. We get a brief rundown on the truth versus the legends about Torin Kerr in this chapter. (See book two, The Better Part of Valor, for the sentient space ship; book three, The Heart of Valor, for what happened on Crucible; and book four, Valor's Trial, for the escape from an alien prison.)

f. We met Major Alie in book three. (Say, when did Werst become a Master Corporal? Before he left the Corps?)

g. Look here for why Torin & team work for the Justice Department instead of the Special Forces branch.

h. See why Binti is Torin's only team member the military police haven't hauled in.

i. See books one through three for why General Morris has been a pain to Torin and she's glad he's not on Ventris Station.

Chapter 2:

a. Intell takes up sections 23 - 25 of level 9 of Ventris Station.

b. See chapter two, book two, for Torin's first meeting with Lieutenant/Captain Stedrin.

c. 'Per' is the prefix for a civilian.

d. That the Intelligence Chief of Staff is a Krai and a Colonel suggests that the Krai got some satisfaction despite the fate of Captain Travik in book two.

e. The presumed H'san biscuit warmer will be called that or a biscuit maker through the book. It's probably neither.

f. The H'san had or has a Bertan'sh Dynasty. Three grave goods from that dynasty, dating from roughly 100 to 210 years after the founding of the Confederation, were sold on three different planets. We're told a little about H'san history, including the fact that their cemetery planet was originally a colony planet turned smoking ruin in the centuries of war before their enlightenment.

g. I like the joke about rogue archaeologists.

h. There's a brief description of the upgrades to Craig's ship, the Promise, since book five.

i. Sergeant Adrian Hollice and one of his old Earth sayings are mentioned. We met him in chapter two of book one.

j. See book four for the massacre on planet ST7/45T2. (Werst of Bravo Company and Craig Ryder were both introduced in book two.)

k See book three for why Torin had to regrow her jaw.

l. Rubber stamps were brought up in chapter of book.

m. Apparently, di'Taykan for grandmother is yasha and Krai for grandfather (?) is jernine.

n. Two of the grave robbers who have already died in traps on the H'san cemetery world are Katherine McKenna and Lieutenant Timin di' Geirah.

o. We get a bit of Craig's and Alamber's personal demons.

p. We learn just how seriously Major Sujuno takes her vows.

q. See chapter 14 of book one for Sergeant Mike Glicksohn and the Mictok.

r. The Kerrs' reaction to Torin visiting them without Craig is mentioned.

s. This trip dirtside to Abalae is the first time in Torin's life she's gone down to a new planet without a weapon.

Chapter 3:

a. This is Torin's first ride in a tether (which are spun by Mictok).

b. There's some information about the Trun, one of the Elder Races.

c. Werst's preferred reading is Krai romances.

d. Three members of the Confederation are water breathers, among them the Yeen. Water breathers rejected Paradise's offer to let them colonize her seas. Paradise has 2.8 billion humans on it.

e. Alamber has never killed anyone.

f. Trun pronouns are 'zi' and 'zir'.

g. Krai get neither motion nor space sick.

h. Torin and a Trun child converse about the war. I believe the scene Torin is remembering came from chapter 14 of book 4. (I own only books one and two and have already returned 3-5 to the library.)

i. Trun police are called facilitators. Their batons are stun guns.

j. Captain Rose was introduced in chapter one of book one.

k. That conversation with Major Svenson's arm was in book three.

l. Werst ate the fake fruit in chapter 12 of book two.

m. Pedro Buckner and family were introduced in chapter one of book five. See chapter six of that book for why he and Craig probably aren't friends anymore. CSO = civilian salvage operator

n. Katrien and Niln are Mid Races. (This is where Torin reacts to some Trun, Katrien, and Niln complaining about the cost of the war.)

Chapter 4:

a. This is where Torin and Craig see a slate that was too costly for them, but is being used by a Trun storekeeper in a secondhand shop.

b. There's a scene involving Binti and Alamber in a low dive.

c. Werst is from the lower branches. His Ressk is a diplomat's son, top of the tree. Werst doesn't believe in Turrist (Krai deity?). Some Trun try to take them on.

d. We're back to the grave robbers. Ms. Huff again demonstrates the difference between Major Sujuno and Torin as leaders. (I see 'jarhead' is still a nickname for marines.)

e. Here's where Torin remarks that they (the Younger Races), have been getting Granddad's hand-me-downs (tech).

f. There's a 'Marine Corps News'.

Chapter 5:

a. Three red stars are named.

b. Werst is not the best cook among them.

c. Alyx died in chapter of book one.

d. There's a Katrien space ship named Tinartin Hur Tain registered to the Valinstrisy family (I admire the way Ms. Huff found to bring reporter Presit a Tur durValintrisy into this story of an extremely secret mission.)

e. See chapter 12 of book five for how Presit saved them all.

f. The Promise can now throw visuals on the glass of the front port.

g. Judging from something Presit says to Torin, Katrien children are called 'kits'. It seems that Katrien clans/houses, which are matriarchal, are ruled by strectasin. The armenai might be a Katrien mother or, more probably, grandmother. Presit is a direct blood descendant of her house's strectasin. The fenYenstrakin are a dependent of Presit's family within her clan.

h. Presit followed ships through susumi space in chapter four of book two, and chapter 9 or 10 of book four.

i. A strectasin personally thanked Torin's team after they took down the furriers.

j. Craig groomed Presit in book four.

k. I suspect byz is Katrien for 'butt'.

l. Private Haysole died in chapter 15 of book one. Private First Class Guimond died in chapter 13 of book two. Captain Rose and Lieutenant Jarret died in the planet ST7/45T2 massacre in book four. Technical Sergeant Gucciard died in chapter 12 of book four. The dedication to book four should illuminate why so many of the Confederation novels have a marine whose last name begins with a 'G' die heroically in them.

Chapter 6:

a. The grave robbers find some very pure water.

b. The Krai word for inedible is revenk.

c. Major Sujuno was in the war for 18 years.

d. There's a translated H'san line that's very ominous.

e. Sujuno's name is spelled 'Sojuno' at one point.

f. Dion translates the line on the plinths holding a desiccated corpse each of other races as well as the one under the H'san corpse plinth. (Sujuno doubts Dion is entitled to be called 'Professor' as he insists.)

g. Wen had to leave to Corps because of his fondness for demo charges.

h. Two Taykan foods are mentioned.

i. Sujuno carries a cylinder of ash on a leather braid under her clothes.

j. The Major is Sujuno di'Kail, as we learn when she remembers something she was told.

k. The grave robbers make a discovery about the pool.

l. Sujuno has put up with Dion for almost seven tendays (seven tendays = 10 weeks).

Chapter 7:

a. Torin's team has found the H'san cemetery planet. Landing without triggering security will be hard.

b. Torin's DNA is needed to open the weapons drawer on the Promise.

c. We learn why Torin won't use Alamber's contacts for info the Justice Department can't give them.

d. Agro se terker tesergerr ih is Krai for 'There is a life between us,' ( a debt).

e. Werst jokes about zombie H'san.

f. Resk asks why a tomb would have a bell. No, no one mentions 19th century Earth attempts to prevent premature burial.

h. Binti has a pithy observation about the ancient H'san that will be repeated. She has a point.

i. Torin's team finds Jamers.

j. The Krai phrase Garen chreen ta dirin avirrk! roughly translates to 'fukking inedible testes'.

k. There's mention of one of Torin's brothers and a game biscuit.

Chapter 8:

a. Ciptran makes fight to the death for the right to mate. The loser gets to have eggs laid in his thorax.

b. Werst recalls a di'Taykan corporal who had the hair on the back of her hair burned off.

c. See books two and four for the times enough of the plastic aliens combined to form a ship.

d. West sits a pit lined with bones.

e. Salvage Station 24 is still the station to Craig.

f. According to Sujuno, she was at that briefing Torin gave on the Silsviss in book three.

Chapter 9:

a. Sujuno briefs Torin on what they're up against.

b. Torin recalls something about di'Taykan gracefulness she was told during one of her stays in Med-op.

c. There's a joke about Viridian Interval (apparently a band).

d. The scene switches to what Craig and Alamber are doing.

e. See book four (chapter 8?) for Craig seeing a Ciptran keeping up with a skimmer.

f. Torin and Werst can '... roll a blade sharp enough to cut air in and out of their fingers...'

g. See chapter 14 of book four for when Firiv'vrak the Artek, (Primacy bug, like a giant ant/cockroach) piloted the alien shuttle.

h. Torin has admitted something about her sessions with Dr. Ito to Craig..

i. Torin finds out why Sujuno hates her.

Chapter 10:

a.. BFG = big fukking gun

b. I loved what Lieutenant Verr told Major Sujuno about who was in charge.

c. We get the first names of Toporov and Keo.

d. Sujuno refers to Werst as Torin's alsLan.

Chapter 11:

a. Here CDC stands for 'Confederation Disease Control'.

b. Torin explains her reasoning to her team.

c. Alamber's rinchas in the armee roughly translates as ducks in the pudding.

d. The other scene with Presit is here.

e. Torin uses an expression involving horseshoes and hand grenades.

f. There are three other special operations teams the Justice Department uses. (Torin's is the best.)

g. Warden Ng's assistant is a Niln.

h. The teams' new quarters are briefly described. Yes, Torin's Silsviss skull is up in hers and Craig's sitting room.

i. Zegazt is a H'san title. (The H'san liaison to the Justice Department doesn't use it.)

j. The H'san prefer to be surrounded by living things (plants, apparently).

k. Loved Alamber and Craig's exchange about what kind of outfit Torin should wear for meeting the Zegazt (and what Werst helped her to do with the scarf she'd bought on Abalae).

l. Torin does ask why the H'san haven't destroyed their old weapons. (I'd have also asked if they'd consider disassembling them and putting the pieces in separate places far from each other.)

m. Torin tells her team what H'san smell like.

I've read An Ancient Peace twice now and I definitely want my own copy. Issues between veterans and civilians today are played out between veterans of the Younger Races and some ungrateful members of the Elder and Mid Races they fought (and their comrades died) to protect. Racism (well, between different species) is alive and well, alas, in the Confederation.

The contrast between Torin's team and Major Sujuno's is established well. The traps set in the H'san necropolis are frightening. I particularly liked the way that Torin couldn't help taking care of even persons whom she dislikes. Pity no one is likely to tell the Taykan authorities what one of their laws nearly cost them. The last half-page is ominous, indeed. I look forward to reading more! show less

Una mummia millenaria che scatena l'inferno.

Sembra il pessimo inizio del classico libro dell'orrore che imperversa nelle nostre librerie.

Ed invece come sempre Tanya Huff ha saputo far volgere quello che potrebbe apparire come scontato e/o noioso a suo favore.



Abbiamo una mummia che vuole restaurare il suo Dio nel XXI secolo e che per far ciò, come ogni buon rivoluzionario che si rispetti, comincia a sottomettere le forze armate.



Abbiamo un vampiro sempre più umano, che sbaglia, si spaventa show more e si apre nei confronti della donna che ama.



Abbiamo una Vicki sempre più dura e ferrea ma che ha una crisi di nervi quando Henry non torna. Si accorge di amarlo. Ma allo stesso tempo si rende conto che per quanto dura possa essere è già da tempo che gioca con chi è in grado di spezzarla con un niente. E questo la fa incazzare ancora di più.



Abbiamo un Celucci che apre gli occhi e si accorge che non è più l'unico a gareggiare per prendersi il cuore di Vick e che forse è già troppo tardi.



Abbiamo un buon libro, scorrevole e coinvolgente condito con il solito stile leggermente più freddo ma pur sempre sarcastico della Huff che mi affascina e mi cattura ogni volta di più.



(serve questa maledetta quista stellina =_=) show less

This book reminds me of salted caramel ice cream: the soft smooth sweetness grabs your attention and delights your tongue, but it's that grain of salt, hinting at something earthier and less conventional, that makes it addictive.

In some ways, "The Enchantment Emporium" is a paranormal romance wrapped around the mystery of a disappearing Auntie. There's a feisty, literally charming heroine, with a recently broken heart and an all-consuming family; an attractive, mysterious, potentially show more lethal.male stranger, a Scooby-gang of leprechauns, fey, witches, and family members with very large...horns, facing off against dragons that, in their human form, have killer cheekbones.

We could almost be in Half Moon Hollow except, beneath the cosy but casual sex and the pop culture references to Star Wars and Firefly, Tanya Huff has created something alien and darkly dangerous: the Gale Women.

At first I thought of the Gales as a particularly large, rambunctious family of witches, with a tendency towards charming but harmless eccentricity. It took me a while to realise that the Gales are not really human, nor are they really individuals in the way I'm used to thinking about it. They reminded me an ancient forest, each tree proud and strong but connected by roots and tendrils that mean that they can best be understood as a collective entity. The Gale women are enormously powerful. The Gale women outnumber the Gale men. The Gale women manipulate the breeding lines to keep the family strong. The Gale women become more dangerous and more eccentric as they become Aunties.

Once I understood that the lethal, alien, power of the Gale women is the grain of salt in this ice cream, I realised that I wasn't reading a paranormal romance. There is no romance here: sex, ownership, even a little love, but no romance. This is the story of a Gale woman coming into her powers and forcing some new shapes into the pattern woven by the family.

"The Enchanted Emporium" was a fun read from the first page, where I was dropped, with almost no explanation, into the chaos of a large unconventional family and left to enjoy working out what the hell was going on. I'll be visiting the Gale women again very soon. show less