Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

George R. R. Martin is a well-established writer. He isn’t known for writing Fantasy though so I was curious about this book. Keeping with longstanding fantasy tradition it’s a big book and it’s the first part of a series. When I bought it I was under the impression that it was going to be a trilogy. Turns out that its actually going to be 6 books! If they’re all this…

This is an excellent book.

Hmm, perhaps thats a little too short for a review…

This is the first Ken MacLeod book I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last. “The Cassini Division” is a sequel of sorts to his previous book “The Stone Canal”. That is to say its set in the same universe (err parallel universe… sort of) and features some of the characters from the previous book.

Buy The…

This is the third Ken MacLeod book I’ve read and the first one he wrote. I read the back to front for no obvious reason. The previous two which I read were both awarded 10 out of 10, so this has a high standard to live up to…

Buy The Star Fraction

This doesn’t read like a first novel in any way. It’s vibrant, well written and gripping. The story is more…

This is the second Ken MacLeod book I’ve read. Its part of a sequence of books, all of which share the same universe and explore certain political ideas. The Stone Canal also has particularly close links with the follow up book The Cassini Division (which I read first just to be difficult) in that the events in this book are referred to in The Cassini Division.

The central…

Changer by Jane M. Lindskold was one of the books I won courtesy of EOS earlier in the year. If I’d had to pay for it I don’t think I’d have got it. The cover is not terribly attractive and the blurb on the back is downright off-putting.

It may just be me, but I am a bit tired of fantasy books that include Arthur and the rest of his…

This is part one of “The Monarchies of God”. Presumably the traditional fantasy trilogy. Which is appropriate because this is a fairly traditional fantasy story. No elves and dwarves though. Instead the author has plumped for something closer to Europe in the middle-ages. The so called “Monarchies of God” (a group of countries) are being invaded by the heathen Murduks. And they’re losing. Their most holy city has been sacked…

Not a new book this but definately worth of a review for the archive. Tigana is Guy Gavriel Kay’s fantasy masterpeice. The storyline is simple. The Peninsula of the Palm is invaded by two sorcerors both with large armies to back them up. During the invasion the Prince of the Duchy of Tigana kills one of the sorcerors sons. This sorceror exacts a terrible revenge by using his magic to…

I hadn’t read anything by J.V. Jones previously but there have been a number of positive comments on the mailing list so when I saw this book in the bookshop I decided to buy it. The plot as summarised on the back of the book is fairly traditional. Villainous King bent on conquering the world. Three disperate individuals brought together to stop him.

But of course its not the bare outline…

This is J V Jones first book. I had already read and been impressed by “The Barbed Coil” when I got this and was hoping for something of a similar quality. Unfortunately I didn’t get it. “The Baker’s Boy” is part one of the “Book of Words” trilogy. I’m not sure if I’ll bother to read the other two books.

The story is very much a typical fantasy…

This is a very BIG story. I don’t just mean this (1225 page) book either since its part one of The Night’s Dawn Trilogy. I don’t just mean the trilogy is big either. The scope of the story is huge. The number of characters involved is large and the ideas aren’t exactly small either.

Its hard to summarise a book of this size and nature. There are a…