Books in the Mail (W/E 2015-02-14)

Just a few books this week, a nice down turn from the previous week's big batch of arrivals.

Pirate’s Promise (A Pathfinder Tales novel) by Chris Jackson (Paizo Mass Market Paperback 01/16/2015) – Jackson’s second book for the popular Pathfinder world sees him pick up the story of the pirate Torius Vin first introduced in Pirate’s Honor

Torius Vin is perfectly happy with his life as a pirate captain, sailing the Inner Sea in search of plunder with a bold crew of buccaneers and Celeste, his snake-bodied navigator and one true love. Yet all that changes when his sometimes-friend Vreva - a high-powered courtesan and abolitionist spy in the slaver stronghold of Okeno - draws him into her shadowy network of insurgents. Caught between the slavers he hates and a navy that sees him as a criminal, can Torius continue to choose the path of piracy? Or will he sign on as a privateer, bringing freedom to others - at the price of his own? From fan-favorite author Chris A. Jackson comes a tale of espionage and high-seas adventure, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

The Hollow Queen (The Symphony of Ages #8) by Elizabeth Haydon (Tor Hardcover 06/02/2015) – A little less than a year since the previous installment of the series, The Merchant Emperor Haydon and Tor publish volume 8 I read the first three books in this series years ago when they first published (Rhapsody, Prophecy, and Destiny) and remember enjoying them at the time

Acclaimed author Elizabeth Haydon returns with a heartbreaking tale of love and valor in The Hollow Queen, the eighth installment of her USA Today bestselling Symphony of Ages series that began with Rhapsody.

Beset on all sides by the forces of the merchant emperor Talquist, the Cymrian Alliance finds itself in desperate straits. Rhapsody herself has joined the battle, wielding the Daystar Clarion, leaving her True Name in hiding with her infant son. Ashe tries to enlist the aid of the Sea Mages. Within their Citadel of Scholarship lies the White Ivory tower, a spire that could hold the key to unraveling the full extent of Talquist’s machinations. Achmed journeys to the reportedly unassailable palace of Jierna Tal, to kill emperor Talquist—all the while knowing that even if he succeeds, it may not be enough to stop the momentum of the war.

As they struggle to untangle the web of Talquist’s treachery, the leaders of the Cymrian alliance are met with obstacles at every turn. Rhapsody soon realizes that the end of this war will come at an unimaginable price: the lives of those she holds dearest.


Nightblade (A Pathfinder Tales novel) by Liane Merciel (Paizo Mass Market Paperback 11/04/2014) – I read Merciel’s first book, Nightglass for Pathfinder a couple of years ago, this one seems to follow-up on that story.

Where Demons Fear to Tread
Raised as a wizard-priest in the church of the dark god Zon-Kuthon, Isiem escaped his sadistic masters and became a rebel, leaving behind everything he knew in order to follow his conscience. Now, his unique heritage makes him perfect for a dangerous mission into an ancient dungeon said to hold a magical weapon capable of slaying demons and devils by the thousands and freeing the world of their fiendish taint. Accompanied by companions ranging from a righteous paladin to mercantile mercenaries, Isiem will lead the expedition back into shadowed lands that are all too familiar. And what the adventurers find at the dungeon’s heart will change them all forever.

From acclaimed author Liane Merciel comes a dark tale of survival, horror, and second chances, set in the award- winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Nightglass and The Soddit at SFFWorld

I dip my toes into a newish fantasy world with a tie-in novel and Mark gets some laughs….


The Pathfinder universe is fairly new in the RPG world, at least compared to Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons. Like those two; however, the folks at Paizo have started publishing original fiction set in the Pathfinder univers, which leads me to Liane Merciel’s mixed bag of a novel Nightglass:

Nightglass tells the story of a wizard coming of age; though in atypical fashion, the young wizard Isiem isn’t exactly a member of House Gryffindor at Hogwarts and the magic of the Midnight Lord might even make Slytherin whimper. At that core, Merciel explores preconceived notions of good and evil and tries to illuminate a character on the dark side of the divide. His initiation into the dark magic of the Midnight Lord of Nidal comprises the first half of the novel. During these ‘training’ sessions Isiem proves to be very adept at learning and there isn’t much of a concern of whether or not he’ll pass his trials, just the stress inherit in being young and experiencing peer pressure. The second half entails his journey out into the world as an emissary investigating the attacks of the strix – winged humanoids – on a mining village. Here also the ‘accepted’ notion of the nature of these creatures comes into scrutiny through Isiem’s experience. Where the emotional tension was stronger in the first half, the sense of frustrating and physical confinement were stronger in the second half of the novel.

Fantasy parodies have been around since well…Bored of the Rings and an author whose been penning quite a few in recent years is Adam Roberts (A.R.R. Roberts). Most recently, his parody of The Hobbit was re-released and SFFWorld’s own Hobbit Mark reviewed it The Soddit:

The Soddit tells the tale of Bingo ‘Sac’ Grabbins, the titular soddit. Happy with his life in Hobbld-Ahoy! at Grab End, he is sitting on his comfortable sofa when he is disturbed by the arrival of a wizard, Gandef, the ancient magician who is hard-of-hearing.

150 000 book buyers can’t be wrong. Surely? Well, as if you didn’t work it out from the above, it is very silly, and like all ‘humorous’ books of this nature, some will find it hilarious whilst others will be distinctly unmoved, nay, disdainful of its efforts to entertain. Professor Roberts (no, really!) at Royal Holloway, London University never misses a chance to set up and run with a gag here, and, as you might expect, if one doesn’t quite work for you there’s another along a few sentences later to try again. There is actually some semblance of an intelligent mind at work behind all this tomfoolery, though some may be hard-pressed to see it. These books usually work best with a degree of rational thought behind them, and as a Tolkien Scholar Prof. Roberts has an understanding of the mythology.

The Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding

Chris Wooding is turning into what might be me favorite new-to-me author of 2011. This statement comes after I read his second Tales of the Ketty Jay novel The Black Lung Captain. The third one The Iron Jackal can’t get here soon enough.

Chris participated (along with Mark Lawrence and Liane Merciel) in the most recent Fantasy Authors roundtable discussion at SFFWorld.

Here's the usual excerpt of the review of The Black Lung Captain, with the cover linking to the review itself.

In this second novel charting the adventures of the crew of the Ketty Jay, about a year after the events of Retribution Falls … When another potential big score comes to Frey’s attention, he is compelled to lead his crew on the mission for what seems to be their biggest payday yet. The enigmatic Captain Grist comes to Frey in the hopes of convincing Frey to use Crake’s skills of daemonology to open a magicked door on a crashed airship from a distant land which could have a virtual Pandora’s box of riches and power on board. Grist has an archaeologist of sorts, think of a low-rent Indiana Jones, who knows where the ship containing this lodestone of these supposed untold riches may be.


Well, to say this is a thrilling ride is an understatement. As I said earlier, what makes the book so un-put-down-ably enjoyable is knowing these characters. The best scenes are those between Frey and Dracken, the words unsaid and the palpable tension between the two – how their past informs their ‘current’ interactions made for an extremely emotional ride. At times, I was reminded of the relationship between Shanna and Hari Michaelson in Matthew Stover’s superb Heroes Die. The past that informs Crake’s current situation is just as heart-wrenching, as is the inner conflict Jez is dealing with as she comes to accept what she is..

Age of Zeus Plus Two Interviews @ SFFWorld

Just one review this week, but a couple of interviews to keep things nice and active at SFFWorld. We’ll start with my review of a book that provides a crackling mix of mythology and military science fiction, The Age of Zeus by James Lovegrove:

Imagine the Greek Gods are real and have returned to Earth. Imagine they’ve set up shop as the new rulers of the world, but aren’t exactly benevolent. Imagine humanity fighting back after about ten years of being subjugated by those gods. Well, James Lovegrove has imagined such a scenario and told the story in The Age of Zeus, the second novel in his thematically linked Pantheon Trilogy* of books. If I were the type to throw a high-concept tag line onto a book, and I am, I would say this is book is one part John Scalzi novel, one part God of War video game, and all-together fun and entertaining.
…
In such a fun and entertaining novel, Lovegrove still has room for touching on some deeper issues. For example, with Sam as our protagonist, we get to view a man of power, Landesman, from the outside as she deconstructs his motivations and just who he is. With many members of the Titan army, Lovegrove explores the sense of loss and motivation for joining Landesman's Titans, as well as the power of religion and interpersonal relationships.

Recent interviews include

Liane Mercel – author of Heaven’s Needle which is the sequel to River Kings Road




J.A. Pitts – author of Black Blade Blues and the forthcoming sequel Honeyed Words