Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

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…