The BiblioSanctum

YA Weekend: Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Posted on April 19, 2014 Leave a Comment

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of The Goddess War

Publisher: Tor Teen (September 10, 2013)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Antigoddess is the second book I have read by Kendare Blake, after the fun times I had with Anna Dressed in Blood earlier this year. And as much as I appreciate a good ghost story, I have to say Antigoddess was more up my alley.

Funny story, though: When I first added this book to my reading list, I only saw the cover and thought it was going to be a story about angels. Damn feather threw me off. It wasn’t until I read the description that I realized I was wrong, but that it was actually about something even better! Not angels, but gods. Greek gods. The mythology buff in me was tickled pink. And that feather on the cover which originally misled me turned out to be a symbol for something much more sinister…

At the heart of this novel and series is an ancient conflict stemming from the events of the Trojan War. So before reading this, it might be a good idea to brush up on your Greek Mythology 101. Or rent Troy. It’s all good! In any case, you don’t have to be an expert on all the details to enjoy this, as Blake uses her prerogative to do some very cool and unique things to the legend and the characters involved. For one, the gods themselves are dying – and in the most bizarre ways. We learn of their plight through mainly Athena and Hermes’ perspectives, the former experiencing impending death by way of random feathers sprouting in her body like a cancer. This is making all the gods a little desperate, and some are driven to insanity.

Even from the very start, we’re presented a mystery. What do the gods have to do with a teenage girl named Cassandra from Kincade, New York? Granted, she appears to have some freaky psychic powers, but the character perspectives going back and forth between Athena and Cassandra cannot be any more different. The latter’s chapters show life in your typical small town high school, while Athena and Hermes’ chapters (at least in the beginning) have an almost abstract, dream-like quality to them which I really enjoyed. While the characters’ connections are revealed early on, the plot doesn’t explode until gods and mortals meet. And then the revelations are even more mind-blowing and unexpected.

The book’s greatest strength is its characters. I suppose if you’re a god you can choose to be whoever you want to be. I liked how Blake gave her gods all different and interesting identities – from Athena’s stern demeanor to Apollo’s loyalty or Hermes’ fun-loving personality and fondness for pop culture.

Most obvious weakness? This had the feel of “first book of a series” all over it. In other words, it read like one big long introduction. Voracious readers of YA fiction will probably know exactly what I’m talking about, and probably won’t find this all that surprising. It’s not hard to guess whether a book will have a satisfying ending or leave things wide open for the sequel; once it became clear that there was no way any of the conflicts would be settled by the end the novel, I admit my interest waned a little as that “let’s just bring on book two” attitude settled in.

That said, I am on board for book two. It’ll probably be one of my higher-priority sequels too, because let’s face it – how often does a book with a good Greek mythology angle come along?

Book Review: Nightmare Ink by Marcella Burnard

Posted on April 18, 2014 Leave a Comment

Nightmare Ink by Marcella Burnard

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of Living Ink

Publisher: InterMix (April 15, 2014)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Whenever I encounter cool, interesting new concepts in urban fantasy, it’s always like a breath of fresh air. I mean, I love vampires, werewolves, wizards and such, but it’s also nice to see something different every once in a while. And with this book, the idea of magical tattoos most definitely fits into the “that’s not something I see every day” category.

The unique properties of “Live Ink” is what serves as the foundation for the magic system in Marcella Burnard’s newest novel, in a world where tattoos are more than just body art. If integrated well, a Live Ink tattoo can enhance a person’s life and augment their skills. But when things go wrong, they can also turn on their wearers and even wind up killing them.

Protagonist Isa Romanchzyk and others like her who have the ability to manipulate Live Ink can either use that power to create or destroy, making her tattoo shop a destination for both the cops and the mob alike — or anyone who needs to get rid of a Live Ink tattoo gone bad. Isa’s approach has always involved “binding” the tattoo, effectively killing it in order to save the life of the victim. Until one day a desperate friend turns to her for help, and for the first time in years Isa works Live Ink, fixing the tattoo instead of destroying it. But what she doesn’t realize is that by interfering, she might as well have just painted a target on her back.

It goes without saying, when you take an interesting idea and throw in compelling characters, you get a winning combination. Nightmare Ink has this going for it. Isa’s enigmatic past and her connections with both the law and the gangs of Seattle make her interesting to me. I thought I’d seen and heard it all when it comes to urban fantasy protagonists and their shady backgrounds, but I guess not! Information about Isa’s history is doled out sparingly so you don’t get to learn everything about her straight away, and I found myself being surprised by the darker revelations of her past even once I was well into the final chapters of the book.

However, the uneven way details are revealed also presents a bit of an issue. I noticed the introductory chapters are heavier on the info-dumps, going so far as to have a character ask Isa about Live Ink so that she can not-so-subtly explain all the ins-and-outs. But information becomes sparser after this, leaving me with a lot of questions about tattoo magic. For example, why does Live Ink only take to certain people and not others? There’s also not much about the “etheric” world where a lot of Isa’s interactions with Live Ink tattoos take place. It makes some of the later scenes in the novel involving her relationship with her own Live Ink very confusing. It is also implied that the Living Tattoos come from another realm, but again we don’t get a lot of detail on that. There are many instances like this, and while it’s a very interesting world I only wish I knew more about it!

At the time of reading, I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a series, but I see now that there is at least one future book planned. In any case, Nightmare Ink works very well as a stand alone. Isa and her friends are a fantastic group of people I wouldn’t hesitate to read about again, and the concept of Live Ink magic could definitely do with some expanding, fine-turning and polish that another book could provide. Despite some holes in the world building, this was overall a very entertaining read.

A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to InterMix/Penguin Group!

Interview with Django Wexler: Exploring The Forbidden Library

Posted on April 17, 2014 1 Comment

We’ve got a great interview for you today. Please welcome Django Wexler, whose middle grade fantasy novel The Forbidden Library hit the shelves this week!

So you’ve already seen my review and heard me sing my praises, and now you want to know more about the author and the book? Look no further, as it is with great pleasure that I present to you my fun chat with Django about The Forbidden Library as well as his love for writing and fantasy fiction. Oh, and there will be cats. Mustn’t forget the cats!

* * *

Mogsy: Hello, Django! First of all, thanks so much for this interview!

Django Wexler: Happy to do it!

Mogsy: So tell us about The Forbidden Library. Pitch the book! What can readers expect to find in it, and why might fans of your adult fantasy be interested to read it too?

Django Wexler: The Forbidden Library is about a girl named Alice who sneaks down to the kitchen one night to find her father arguing with a nasty-looking fairy. When he mysteriously disappears a few days later, she’s sent to live with an uncle she didn’t know she had, in his odd old house with a giant library she absolutely must not go into. When she (of course) does, she finds out that both her uncle and his library are a lot stranger than they appear!

US Cover

Other things that are in the story: talking cats, dragons, The Swarm, strange maps, needle-elves, Ending, and books that suck you in. (Literally!)

I had a great time writing it. Even as an adult, I love well-written children’s fiction, especially fantasy – I’m a huge fan of authors like Phillip Pullman, Jonathon Stroud, J. K. Rowling (of course), Phillip Reeve, and so on. I hope that anyone else who understands that fantasy for young readers doesn’t have to be bland will enjoy it! There’s also a meta-level, if you’ve read a lot of this sort of thing. The original inspiration for the story was based on observations about the normal course of events in the Chosen One fantasy.

Mogsy: Well said. But I’ve been wondering and I think a lot of people will want to know too, why a Middle Grade novel? With your fond memories and love for well-written children’s fiction, did you start off having plans to write a book for this age group or did the idea for the story fit the category?

Django Wexler: It’s actually kind of a funny story – when I started, I didn’t know that there was such a thing as “middle grade” as a category. I had this vague idea that I was writing a children’s book, but that was it. What I wanted was something *short*, compared to The Thousand Names. I had a problem with everything I wrote ballooning out to become epic, and I knew I couldn’t commit to writing more than one book that size a year. So if I wanted to start another series, it had to be slim by comparison. (Forbidden Library is about 75,000 words, compared to Thousand Names’ 200,000.) Once I started writing it, it just felt right as a children’s book, although I didn’t change very much about my writing style. (I thought of it as leaving out sex, swearing, and gore.)

Then I sent it to my agent Seth, who thought it would work really well as a middle grade. We made a few changes – Alice’s age was adjusted a little, for example – and he sent it off to see if Penguin liked the look of it.

UK Cover

Mogsy: Actually, I’ve always been curious if there were special “rules” to writing Middle Grade (and you coming from writing adult fantasy might be in a unique position to answer). So like you said, no sex, no swearing and no gore, but really how how far could you go those and did you encounter any other limitations? Like maybe the story couldn’t be too dark?

Django Wexler: If there are special rules, nobody ever told me about them! Honestly, I didn’t think about it that much while I was writing it. I made a few decisions at the outset to keep things easy – a single point of view in a simple third-person past, no fancy mucking about with experimental narrative structure – and that helped keep the story on a pretty straightforward path. Other than that, I hoped that my editor would let me know if I’d done anything wrong! She did end up flagging a few things, mostly some vocabulary that was a little too much of a stretch, but on the whole we changed remarkably little. (At least, for that reason. We did plenty of edits for other reasons!) Certainly nobody ever told me it couldn’t be dark. I loved dark fiction when I was that age, so I really couldn’t go any other direction.

Mogsy: Clearly you are a lover of cats! They feature prominently in The Forbidden Library, and one of the most memorable characters for me is the talking cat Ashes. I also know from Twitter that you are a proud owner of two kitties! Did your draw much from your experience with them when writing Ashes?

Django Wexler: Everything is better with cats! I definitely did draw from my own personal cats. Anyone who has spent time with cats knows that they have a wide variety of weird little behavioral tics – the head-butt, the tail slap, the standing-in-front-of-you-to-trip-you-on-the-stairs, and so on. While Ashes talks, I wanted to make sure he also felt like a cat in terms of his behavior, rather than a tiny cat-shaped human.

Author’s cats: Sakaki and The Tomoes

Mogsy: So in The Forbidden Library, people like Alice who are called “Readers” have the special power to enter books, defeat the creatures imprisoned inside and in doing so gain access to their abilities. Now, if you could do the same, with any book at all, what would it be?

Django Wexler: So, that’s a really tough question. The problem, which poor Alice has to deal with, is that you have to be able to defeat the creature inside the book in order to a) gain their powers and b) escape from the book at all! While I’d love to have the abilities of, say, Jonathon Stroud’s Bartimaeus, the chance of my beating him in a fight is pretty much nil. I would have to start with something really wimpy and work my way up. Maybe Terry Pratchett’s Bromeliad trilogy. I might be able to hold my own against people only a few inches high. (But what powers would they give me?)

Mogsy: Come on, I’m sure you can handle more than Nomes! But on that note, from Swarmers to a many-legged dragon, the book features a ton of very unique and unrestrainedly fantastical creatures. At the risk of sounding corny, but I just have to know, where do you get some of these wild but awesome ideas for them?

Django Wexler: It’s often hard to answer that question, of course. The rule I made going into the book was that I wasn’t going to use any “stock” fantasy creatures, in terms of dragons, elves, orcs or whatnot – it never sits well with me when everyone’s fantastic worlds all look kind of the same. So when I needed a creature of a familiar type, I put some thought into how I might be able to “twist” it a little, so that it would look or behave differently from the familiar presentation. So, for example, Vespidian is a fairy, but a very strange-looking and threatening one, rather than the twinkly, kindly things you might see elsewhere. (He also has the coloring of something poisonous, and his name is a reference to wasps!) The Dragon has no wings, so it looks very reptilian, but the multiple legs and horizontal rows of eyes are insectoid features to give it an alien touch.

Comissioned art of the Dragon by Nicole Cardiff (http://www.artofnicolecardiff.com)

Some things I can’t explain, though. The Swarm looks like a flock of little black Kiwi birds, but sharing a single mind and purpose, a bit like a colony of insects. No idea where that came from!

Mogsy: Speaking of pretty pictures…what was it like to work on a book with an illustrator? What was your reaction when you saw some of the art?

Django Wexler: I love love love having illustrators work with my stuff. It’s really an amazing feeling to see someone else’s view of what you’re describing, in spite of (or maybe because of) the fact that it doesn’t look like what you were picturing. It made me really happy when they told me we were going to have internal illustrations in The Forbidden Library, and the results I think are amazing. The best part is the UK edition has a DIFFERENT set of illustrations, so I get to see ANOTHER artist’s cool take on the characters and monsters! Double the fun! (I’m hoping to have all the art up in a gallery on my website around the time of the release.)

In terms of actually working with the illustrator, the book was finished long before the art was arranged, so I didn’t actually have much interaction. In a couple of places where my descriptions were a bit unclear, they asked me for clarifications, but otherwise it was a matter of seeing what he came up with based on the text. I did make a few comments for historical accuracy, though!

Mogsy: So in the last year you’ve published an epic fantasy novel, the first of an urban fantasy novella series, and now a middle grade novel. One of the most impressive things I’ve discovered by reading your books is your flexibility in writing and storytelling. Do you just go where your ideas take you, or are there genres you’ve always known you want to dive into?

Publisher image from UK Edition

Django Wexler: I think mostly the former. I get ideas (so many ideas – I have an “Idea File” that’s now like thirty pages long) and try to plot out a story that seems like it works, then think about what genre it is. Sometimes I know from the idea what that ought to be – I have some stuff I want to write that’s definitely YA, for example. But genre in general is something that should be looked at as descriptive rather than proscriptive: it should be a useful tool for helping readers talk about books, and booksellers organize them on shelves, rather than something authors should feel bound by. So basically, I do what seems fun!

Mogsy: Great to hear that! So to wrap things up then, what’s next for Django Wexler? What’s occupying your time these days, both writing or non-writing related? Any exciting projects you’re working on currently or in the near future that you’d like to share?

Django Wexler: It’s going to be kind of a crazy year for me. In addition to the release of The Forbidden Library, I’ve got my novella John Golden, Freelance Debugger out now, and then The Shadow Throne, sequel to The Thousand Names, releasing at the beginning of July. That also means a ton of cons, including a trip to England for LonCon in August! I’m very excited.

As far as future projects go, I’ve got some fun stuff coming up. So far this year I’ve been finishing up editing on The Shadow Throne and working on the sequel to The Forbidden Library, along with a bunch of short fiction projects that will turn up in various anthologies. One I can already talk about is the BLACKGUARDS anthology coming soon from Ragnarok Publications, in which I’ll have a new Shadow Campaigns story. Next on the list is the first draft of the third Shadow Campaigns book, which still needs a title. After that … probably Forbidden Library #3! Non-writing-wise it’s just the usual: video games (Diablo III!), miniature painting, and anime. I’ve been writing a column on the latter over on SF Signal at Lost in Animeland.

Thanks for having me on!

For more information on Django Wexler, be sure to check out his website at http://djangowexler.com!

Book Review: The Copper Promise by Jen Williams

Posted on April 16, 2014 1 Comment

The Copper Promise by Jen Williams

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Stand Alone (Collects 4 parts)

Publisher: Headline (February 13, 2014)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Copper Promise came out earlier this year in its full entirety from Headline Books, but with nary a US release date in sight. Argh, doesn’t that just drive you insane?! I kept my eyes and ears open for any news. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I needed this book in my life. Being on the wrong side of the ocean be damned, I just went ahead and ordered my copy from the Book Depository. From there, this oh so gorgeous book found its way into my hands at last.

Was it worth it? You betcha! I craved for this book so hard because I thought it sounded amazing. And as it happens, it contains a lot of things I like. We’re talking classic quest narrative here. And don’t forget mages, knights, and sellswords. Hey, there are even pirates! Oh, and did I mention the dragon? Not just any old dragon either, but a dragon god of destruction. Unleashed after an eternity spent imprisoned in the dark depths of the Citadel, now all she wants to do is tear the world asunder.

Enter an unlikely group of heroes who may be the world’s last hope. Unique and intriguing, the characters are what made this book so awesome. We have Lord Frith, jaded and broken, thirsting for revenge after witnessing his whole family killed by usurpers who then nearly tortured him to death for the secret location of his treasure vault. Then we have Sebastian, the exiled knight whose only crime was falling in love with another man. And last but not least, we have Wydrin, the cheeky mercenary who calls herself The Copper Cat. She’s great — and has a scary obsession with sharp blades too, I might add.

I enjoyed how naturally the character relationships seemed to flow with the story. Each person had to overcome their own individual challenges at some point before coming back together again to resolve the final conflict, but this was done so artfully that their separations and reunions always felt so right. Somehow, characters were exactly where they needed to be, but always in a way that made a lot of sense and didn’t feel forced. Even with the complex relationships and switching between perspectives, I still felt a closeness with each character and this made their interactions easy and entertaining to follow.

The novel’s format had a lot to do with this. I was glad I knew something about it before heading into the book. The Copper Promise is actually a collection of four serialized novellas – Ghost of theCitadel, Children of the Fog, Prince of Wounds, and Upon the Ashen Blade. Together they form the overall story arc, every section being a part of the whole. In spite of this, I also noticed that each part had its own dramatic structure – a main conflict, rising action, etc. So in a way, it’s a bit like getting four exciting climaxes in a single book! But even with the almost seamless transition between the parts, if I hadn’t known about the serialized format I imagine reading all four of them together would feel like a pretty uneven ride with lots of ups and downs. It also gives the book that “pulpy” feel. I was prepared, so it probably wasn’t as distracting for me.

More importantly, the four parts come together remarkably well, showing us the bigger picture. It’s true that they work as smaller narratives by themselves, but believe me, it’s a lot more rewarding when viewed it as a whole. Grab this book to have them all together, and enjoy it all at once. I know I certainly had a good time doing so.

Great book. Simply good old-fashioned adventurous fun, with just a touch of grit. Sound yummy? Then you should definitely check it out too.

Waiting on Wednesday 04/16/14

Posted on April 16, 2014 Leave a Comment

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!

Wendy’s Pick:

Dragon Age: Last Flight by Liane Mercial: August 12, 2014 (Tor Books)

I’m a sucker for game lore and I appreciate that Amazon is watching out for me. Not only did it remind me that the previous book in the Dragon Age series, The Masked Empire, was available, it pointed out that this one is on the way. AND OMG ARE THOSE GRIFFONS??? I TOLD YOU WYNNE! I TOLD YOU!!

Return to Thedas, the setting of BioWare’s award-winning Dragon Age dark fantasy rpg, and discover what dark, forgotten secrets lurk in the history of the legendary Grey Wardens.

The Grey Wardens are heroes across Thedas once again: the Archdemon has been defeated with relative ease and the scattered darkspawn are being driven back underground. The Blight is over. Or so it seems.

Valya, a young elven mage recently recruited into the Wardens, has been tasked with studying the historical record of previous Blights in order to gain insight into newly reported, and disturbing, darkspawn phenomena. Her research into the Fourth Blight leads her to an encoded reference scrawled in the margins of an ancient map, and to the hidden diary of Issenya, one of the last of the fabled griffon riders. As the dark secrets buried in Isseyna’s story unfold, Valya begins to question everything she thought she knew about the heroic Grey Wardens. . . .

Mogsy’s Pick:

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey: September 16, 2014 (Putnam Juvenile)

Two alien invasion novels in a row for my Waiting on Wednesdays! What can I say, I’m just in that kind of mood. The Infinite Sea is the sequel to Rick Yancey’s The Fifth Wave, a young adult sci-fi thriller that provides a chilling look at what happens when E.T. doesn’t want to play nice.

“The riveting follow-up to the New York Times bestselling The 5th Wave, hailed by Justin Cronin as “wildly entertaining.”

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.”

Graphic Novel Review: Sex Criminals Volume 1: One Weird Trick by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky

Posted on April 15, 2014 2 Comments

Sex Criminals, Volume 1: One Weird Trick by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Sexuality

Collects: Sex Criminals #1-5

Publisher: Image Comics

Publication Date: April 29, 2014

Creator Info: www.mattfraction.com / zdarsky.tumblr.com

Matt Fraction dedicates this series to anyone who’s ever rubbed one out for the first time and the first issue opens with a couple having sex in the washroom, with the narrator, Suzanne, offering to explain and asking you not to judge. By way of explanation, she starts with her past and the death of her father, a seemingly random victim of a gun toting rampage. Her mother sinks into a life of tears and drink and Suzanne finds the only escape is underwater in the bathtub. One day, during her moments of seclusion, she makes an accidental discovery that involves touching herself—you know—down there. The result is not merely the incredible feeling of euphoria, but time actually stands still for her. She comes (lol) to call this phenomenon “The Quiet,” and tries to learn more about it. But there is little information available, and worse, no one seems to want to talk about it and asking the wrong people results in shame.

This might be a common experience for many. My birds and bees discussion was less discussion and more “here read this book,” wherein, This Book, had a blue cover, nice ’70s attired young teens smiling sweetly, and a big chapter on why masturbation is evil. In my aged wisdom and experience, I will be working from this book instead when it comes time to get more in depth about sex chats with my kids, however, we still live in a surprisingly prudish society. We love sex, but we’re still too ashamed to admit it. If that’s how you feel about the down and dirty, then this book actually *is* for you. Because you’re not alone in your interest in sex and, while your orgasms might not stop time (or do they?), I love the way Fraction calls us out on our shame and politely and humorously asks why we gotta feel this way.

I’m most familiar with Fraction’s work on the Hawkeye solo series where he takes the Avenger out of his role as a superhero and introduces us to an every day, self-deprecating guy with a penchant for doing nice things for people who could use a break, and getting himself in trouble for the right reasons. That same casual, personable feel exists in Sex Criminals, with characters that you can really empathize with.

So the “criminals” part. Right. That comes in when Suzanne discovers that her ability isn’t as unique as she thought. She meets Jon, whom she actually has a lot in common with and falls for even before she discovers that he can enter The Quiet too, (though he has another name for it). He gets to tell of his discovery of his ability, which a lot of guys can probably identify with. Jon has been using his time stopping abilities to cause a bit more trouble than Suzanne has ever imagined, and he convinces her to try it out for the sake of saving her beloved library. Unfortunately, they discover that they really, really aren’t unique in their abilities, as their antics are halted by the sex police.

Fraction’s sense of humour is light and fun. It’s impossible not to laugh at yourself through the course of the book, as much as you’re laughing at the characters and their situations. I’ve also learned the importance of reading *everything* in comics these days, but most especially comics that Fraction works on. His cheekiness spills into all the pages, cover to cover, and it’s great to see that Zdarsky shares that sense of humour, making for a great team.

Technically speaking, the story telling process is a bit troublesome. It begins with young Suzanne going through her motions, with older Suzanne fourth wall narrating over her shoulder. In present day, Suzanne occasionally breaks the fourth wall as well, looking at the ‘camera’ to deliver some lines. It takes a moment to grasp that, since narrative word boxes are also used to speak to the reader. This is not a deal breaking concern for me, though.

This is yet another winner from Image Comics, which continues to produce great, off the wall comics that push the boundaries of both the medium, and our sensibilities. Sex Criminals even earned itself an Apple ban, which means Fraction and Zdarsky are definitely doing something right.

Still not sold? Check out the first issue for free on Comixology.

With thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Lascar’s Dagger by Glenda Larke

Posted on April 14, 2014 Leave a Comment

The Lascar’s Dagger by Glenda Larke

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of The Forsaken Lands

Publisher: Orbit (March 18, 2014)

Author Information: Website

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The word “spy” has such heavy undertones, especially when it comes to genres in fiction. When I first picked up The Lascar’s Dagger by Glenda Larke, everything I knew about it came from its description, so I was surprised when it turned out not to be the kind book I thought it’d be. Not that I had an inkling of how a story about a cleric-intelligencer was going to play out in a fantasy setting in the first place; still, if not a gripping page-turner, I expected at least something faster paced. But at the same time, I wouldn’t exactly call this book slow, though it definitely had its ups and downs.

Case in point, it took a week to read the first third of the book, but the rest only took me about a few days. and I’d actually polished off the second third in a single sitting. For me The Lascar’s Dagger was the type of novel with an ending much stronger than its intro; it may take its sweet time finding its momentum, but when it does, you’d better watch out. I know I could hardly put it down once the story got going.

The novel follows Saker Rampion, a priest who also serves as a spy for the Pontifect of the Va-Faith. On a routine information gathering assignment, he unwittingly stumbles upon Ardhi, a lascar up to no good. After a brief tussle, Saker comes away with the lascar’s dagger, and its magical properties are revealed when multiple attempts to discard the weapon prove unsuccessful. Even after throwing it into the harbor, the dagger always seems to make its way back to Saker Rampion’s side!

Not long afterward, the Pontifect reassigns Saker on a new job to act as new spiritual adviser for the prince and princess of Ardrone. Meanwhile in another place, a young woman named Sorrel Redwing is on the run, charged with the murder of her husband. She ends up at the royal court too, after the Princess Mathilda takes Sorrel under her wing and offers her protection. At this juncture, the story is still in the process of evolving and has not reached its tipping point. However, once it becomes clear that Mathilda also has a larger role to play, the situation ramps up into a new and irreversible development.

In fact, for a spoiled princess, Mathilda had a lot to offer as a character, and was the one who stole the show for me, not least because the story might not have ever taken off if not for her actions. She also had by far the most interesting personality, even if at times she was a self-absorbed brat or even an airheaded ninny. Sorrel takes second place, impressing me with her strength and loyalty, and the fact she appears to have the patience of a saint. It’s the female characters that really shine in this book, and they were the ones who drew me in despite Saker Rampion being the most prominent character. As it turned out, the fact that he was a spy didn’t even play into the story all that much, at least not in the ways one would expect, and at times some of his shortcomings and naivete were positively cringe-worthy.

While I would not call this book action-filled or even an adventure, readers who love epic fantasy for the political intrigue and all that entails would find lots to like in The Lascar’s Dagger. There are scandals, betrayals and plays for power, cleverly used to raise the stakes. Then there’s the magic, an intriguing element that adds a sense of mystique and danger. There’s not just one avenue of magical power in this world but several systems, one form of it being a “witchery” which relates to the spiritual sphere. I like that different people can be granted different kinds of abilities, as well as the idea of how a witchery power comes to a person in the first place. It’s a very unique way of looking at magic, and raises plenty of questions about the evil and good forces of the world.

A while ago, I contemplated books — especially firsts of a series — that are slower to get started and realized that I don’t mind a putting in a little investment if I think the payoff will be worth it. I have been pleasantly surprised like this before in the past, so I’m always reluctant to put aside a novel even if the introduction doesn’t grab me right away. In this case, I’m glad I decided to stick with The Lascar’s Dagger because the story eventually grew on me, and the ending presented a very tense situation in which the implications for the next novel are mind-boggling. I have to praise this book for its originality; there are ideas in here never seen before, and with really no way to predict what’s coming next, I’m definitely on board with continuing this series.

A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Orbit Books!

Apex Magazine Issue #58

Posted on April 13, 2014 Leave a Comment

APEX MAGAZINE ISSUE #58

FICTION: Waking by Cat Hellisen, Undone by Mari Ness, To Increase His Wondrous Greatnesse More by Sunny Moraine, The End of the World in Five Dates by Claire Humphrey, Actaeon by Jacqueilne Carey (eBook exclusive), Maze by J.M. McDermott (eBook exclusive novel excerpt)

NONFICTION: Invisible Bisexuality in Torchwood by K. Tempest Bradford, Author Interview with Claire Humphrey, Artist Interview with Julie Dillon, Resolute: Notes from the Editor-in-Chief by Sigrid Ellis

POETRY: Tempus by J.J. Hunter, The Parable of the Supervillian by Ada Hoffmann

Cover art by Julie Dillon

I confess, it wasn’t long ago that given the choice between a novel and an anthology of short fiction, I would always choose the former. Not that I was averse to reading short stories; if anything, I wanted more opportunities to explore this format but my unfamiliarity with what’s out there was holding me back. Even now, most of my anthology reads come from the recommendations of friends and other bloggers.

As it happens, in February I was introduced to ApexMagazine, thanks to the Book of Apex Blog tour hosted by Andrea of the LittleRed Reviewer. For the whole month I was treated to reviews of this short story collection, from a magazine that describes itself as a little offbeat and straying from the mainstream, featuring fantasy fiction of the darker, stranger and more surreal persuasion. All I had to say to that was, “Apex, you’ve got my full attention.”

So, needless to say I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to take part in Apex’s Operation Fourth Story their official digital magazine drive by reviewing one of their recent issues. I got to read my first Apex Magazine! I was so excited!

Admittedly, collections are always hard to review as there will always be stories I like more than others, and there were also a couple poems which made me feel completely out of my depth and ill-equipped to talk about. But while poetry might not be my thing, it could be yours – and what’s nice is there’s something for everyone in this magazine. I myself gravitated towards the short stories, and very much enjoyed Sunny Moraine’s “To Increase His Wondrous Greatnesse More” for the fairy tale touch. Another that stood out for me was the quirky yet powerful and emotional “The End of the World in Five Dates” by Claire Humphrey. I should mention as well that my review copy also included the ebook/subscriber exclusive story “Actaeon” by Jacqueline Carey, who is one of my favorite authors so I can’t tell you how excited I was to be able to read it! As you can see, readers are offered some pretty nifty perks if they subscribe.

At first I was also going to forgo the non-fiction, but in the end I just couldn’t help myself. I’m fascinated with social commentary in pop culture, which is probably why I found K. Tempest Bradford’s “Invisible Bisexuality in Torchwood” an intriguing and thought-provoking read even though I am wholly unfamiliar with the show. I even ventured to read the interviews and was elated to see the one with cover artist Julie Dillon. More attention to fantasy artists is ALWAYS a good thing, plus Dillon’s artwork is incredible (you might have noticed me gushing about her other Apex covers in my Cover Loverfeature earlier this week).

My final thought: this was impressive! As someone completely new to Apex, I was surprised to see such a wide range of content in a single issue – everything from short stories and poetry to essays and interviews. Like I said, my experience with reading short fiction is sparse and my experience with reviewing it is even more so, but I know something is special when I see it. The best part is, the issue delivers exactly what was promised, its various pieces featuring themes that are edgy, provocative and not afraid to push the envelope and explore beyond boundaries.

From April 3rd to 17th Apex Magazine will be showcasing guest posts, reviews, and interviews as part of their Operation Fourth Story digital magazine subscription drive. From now until the end of the event you can get a year’s subscription for only $17.95 direct from Apex or through Weightless Books. Their goal is to get 250 new subscribers, which will generate enough revenue to add a fourth piece of original short fiction to every issue. What’s more, if they reach their goal, one random subscriber will win a Kindle Paperwhite!

YA Weekend: The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Posted on April 12, 2014 Leave a Comment

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of The Winner’s Trilogy

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux (March 4, 2014)

Author Information: Website

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I admit it, I read this book for FORBIDDEN LOVE! Turns out though, it was not exactly the kind I had in mind. I expected a little more chemistry, perhaps? A little bit more of that “it’s you and me against the world”? The Winner’s Curse ended up giving me two lovers who actually spent more than half the book locked in conflict with each other, and so their romance lacked some of that je ne sais quoi which makes forbidden love so scandalous and delicious.

Meet the two star-crossed lovers in question: Kestrel, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a Valorian general, who one day visits a slave auction and spontaneously decides to buy Arin, a native of the Harrani lands her people conquered. Their meeting, however, was no accident. Unbeknownst to Kestrel, Arin is actually a high ranked member of a group of Harrani rebels, planted purposely at the auction to draw her in. As a slave in the Valorian general’s home, Arin would be in a position to gather intelligence and plan his people’s uprising.

What neither of them counted on was that their master and slave relationship would eventually evolve into friendship, deepening into love. But that journey was far from passionate for me; instead, it felt tepid and sometimes even bordered on awkward. It’s tricky creating chemistry when both your characters are torn between their loyalties to each other or their own people, and the story never managed to convince me that there was ever really any trust between Kestrel and Arin. Seeing as The Winner’s Curse is essentially a romance, that’s a pretty vital ingredient to be missing for me.

Okay, so their relationship was not as swoon-worthy as I would have liked, but no matter. The world, the characters and the story soon won me over, and I enjoyed this book a lot. While it is what I would classify as “standard” YA, it still contained plenty of surprises within its pages. I did love the setting, with the flavor of a historical fantasy. A martial civilization like the Valorians which also encourages women in their army fascinates me. If anything, I wish the scope of the story was bigger to encompass more of the events in the wider world. There’s a lot of potential for world building here; because of the narrow focus on Kestrel and Arin, we only get to see a tiny slice of what’s happening.

Forbidden Love just happens to be a trope I can’t resist, but the comments I made above notwithstanding, if you are a fan romance I would still highly recommend The Winner’s Curse. But if it’s excitement or a thrilling adventure you’re looking for, you might want to reconsider. The pacing is a lot more quiet, with a decent chunk of this book dedicated to getting Kestrel and Arin together, and it’s a gradual process not achieved through any wild or fierce means. There’s perhaps a slight pick up in pace in the final handful of chapters, but keep in mind the story itself isn’t about providing a lot of action, it’s about character development and building a relationship. The careful way in which Marie Rutkoski does it is undeniably this book’s crowning glory, and even though the romance itself fell a bit flat for me, I’m sure for many others it will be the most engrossing aspect.

Despite the shaky love story, I really liked this novel, and I’ll no doubt pick up the next book when it comes out. I’m still holding out for an exception forbidden romance to emerge triumphant from this series, and I think it still has a chance, not to mention things end just as the story gets even more interesting.

Book Review: Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards

Posted on April 11, 2014 1 Comment

Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of Bloodsounder’s Arc

Publisher: Night Shade Books (May 1, 2012)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

If you want to see a cool way to tackle dark fantasy, look no further than this novel. It’d been sitting on my shelf for a while, and earlier this month I finally picked it up. It didn’t take more than a few pages for me to realize I was looking at a very special book.

Jeff Salyards’ approach to storytelling gave me a very unique experience. For one thing, I thought I had a pretty good bead on what I like in my fantasy — you know, the things I enjoy and don’t enjoy about the genre, etc. Well, that was before this book came along and turned everything upside down, making me rethink my own preferences.

Example the first: I’d always thought I preferred answers to any mysteries, but Scourge of the Betrayer was a book that provided scant detail about its story right from the start, leaving many questions open even once we were well past the midway point. But guess what? I found myself totally okay with this. More on this in a sec.

Example the second: Precious little words were wasted in the telling of this story, which didn’t come as a surprise to me after taking in account the relatively modest page count. I usually assume this means the author won’t be going into too much detail about the world or its characters. Of course, I was wrong with this one. What struck me was the fact that even though Jeff Salyards ever only gave just enough information for the reader to follow along, the world-building never suffered.

There was a good balance, plain and simple. What should have been a frustrating experience instead had me completely riveted. Not unexpectedly, the characters had a lot to do with drawing me in; after all, dark tales such as these tend to feature gritty, nasty personalities that nonetheless exude a certain charm. We have Arkamondos, a young scribe hired on to chronicle the exploits of a rough band of Syldoon warriors led by the formidable Captain Braylar Killcoin. Why Arki is there among this crew, or what the Syldoon are up to in the first place are questions that remain a mystery for quite a while, but the winning characters and the promise that I was going to get better acquainted with this crazy lot were reasons enough to stick around to find out more.

In a way, the players are more important than the plot. The story works well told from Arki’s perspective in the first person, especially since Salyards doesn’t hold anything back with his bold and unflinching style. We are privy to his protagonist’s every thought and emotion, riding along in Arki’s head as he experiences everything from his most awkwardly humiliating moments to the terror and disgust he feels towards the brutal violence of his Syldoon companions. The more ugliness this meek and bookish scribe gets exposed to, the more compelling his character becomes. Arki’s personal growth takes center stage, and his relationships with Braylar and the inscrutible scout woman Lloi go a long way in also enhancing that journey.

The author took a huge gamble when he chose to approach the story this way, but it certainly paid off. The book is a refreshing change from the usual dark fantasy; it’s fast-paced and energetic without sacrificing world building or character development. A lot of reviewers have compared it to The Black Company, and in truth I’d do the same except I honestly felt that Scourge of the Betrayer was a much better book. I liked Glen Cook’s series, but didn’t get into his characters or take to his writing the same way I took to Jeff Salyards’. Scourge hooked me right away, and even though the ending was somewhat abrupt, my overall feelings for the book are extremely positive. I’m glad the release of book two is just around the corner, because I can’t wait to continue Arki’s story.