Orphan Black Rewatch Comes to a Close

My time with Orphan Black has come to a temporary close, as the final episode "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" re-aired on BBC America this past Saturday, November 16. As such, my final recap / breakdown was posted to Tor.com on Monday.

I knew I enjoyed the show when I watched with my wife during its first run, but I think I enjoyed it at least as much during this second viewing. Knowing a lot of what happened allowed me to pick up on a lot of the recurring themes, hints/foreshadowing, and points laid out in all of the episodes, like how often Sarah was told she was lucky to have Kira. 

I really must point out what a fantastic job the production editors did with each of my posts. They managed to get the absolute perfect screen shot for each post and each point I wanted to be highlighted in my recaps. A few of the commenters, as I point out in the last breakdown post at Tor, helped me view the story/show a bit differently than I initially did.  I realized that maybe, as much as I may have had a crush on Alison, that she was not handling her situation in the best fashion.

So, all I have to say at this point about the show itself (considering I spouted quite a bit about each episode and had some thoughts overall) is I am greatly anticipating the second season when it airs in April 2014. I will add that it was a little jarring, at first, to see Dylan Bruce (the actor who portrays Paul Dierden) on Arrow (another terrific show) this season.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-11-16)

A few books this week, two from the fine folks at Tor: one an electronic ARC another the physical copy of the book.

Fortune’s Pawn (Volume 1 of The Paradox Series) by Rachel Bach (Orbit, Trade Paperback 11/05/2013) – This is the “final” published copy of the ARC I received in August. I’ve since read and reviewed it and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is somewhat of an open secret that Bach is a pseudonym for Rachel Aaron, author of the very entertaining Eli Monpress fantasy novels. I’m really looking forward to this book.

Devi Morris isn't your average mercenary. She has plans. Big ones. And a ton of ambition. It's a combination that's going to get her killed one day - but not just yet.

That is, until she just gets a job on a tiny trade ship with a nasty reputation for surprises. The Glorious Fool isn't misnamed: it likes to get into trouble, so much so that one year of security work under its captain is equal to five years everywhere else. With odds like that, Devi knows she's found the perfect way to get the jump on the next part of her Plan. But the Fool doesn't give up its secrets without a fight, and one year on this ship might be more than even Devi can handle.


Homeland by James L. Cambias (Tor Hardcover 01/28/2014) – This is the debut from Cambias and is a Hard SF novel about first contact. Cambias has been publishing short fiction for over a decade in various places.

On the planet Ilmatar, under a roof of ice a kilometer thick, a team of deep-sea diving scientists investigates the blind alien race that lives below. The Terran explorers have made an uneasy truce with the Sholen, their first extraterrestrial contact: so long as they don’t disturb the Ilmataran habitat, they’re free to conduct their missions in peace.

But when Henri Kerlerec, media personality and reckless adventurer, ends up sliced open by curious Ilmatarans, tensions between Terran and Sholen erupt, leading to a diplomatic disaster that threatens to escalate to war.

Against the backdrop of deep-sea guerrilla conflict, a new age of human exploration begins as alien cultures collide. Both sides seek the aid of the newly enlightened Ilmatarans. But what this struggle means for the natives—and the future of human exploration—is anything but certain, in A Darkling Sea by James Cambias.

Bloodstone (Rebel Angels Book Two) by Gillian Philip (Tor Hardcover 11/19/2013) – Second in Philip’s four-book set.

Bloodstone is the second novel in Gillian Philip’s critically acclaimed Rebel Angels series, debuting in the United States for the first time.

For centuries, Sithe warriors Seth and Conal MacGregor have hunted for the Bloodstone demanded by their Queen. Homesick, and determined to protect their clan, they have also made secret forays across the Veil. One of these illicit crossings has violent consequences that will devastate both their close family, and their entire clan.

In the Otherworld, Jed Cameron, a feral, full-mortal young thief, becomes entangled with the strange and dangerous Finn MacAngus and her shadowy uncles. When he is dragged into the world of the Sithe, it’s nothing he can’t handle until time warps around him, and menacing forces reach out to threaten his infant brother. In the collision of two worlds, war and tragedy are inevitable, especially when treachery comes from the most shocking of quarters….

Worthy of a Second Read - Acacia Book One: The War with the Mein by David Anthony Durham

This review of Acacia Book One: The War with the Mein by David Anthony Durham is a first for me, I’m writing a second review of a book I reviewed in the past (June 2007 when this book first published) so it will be interesting for me to tread over ground I’ve previously trod. On to the review, which is more of a reaction than a review actually…

Cover Art used on ARC
otherwise unused

When Acacia Book One The War with the Mein first published in 2007, it was to a great deal of buzz for a couple of reasons. One, Durham had a Literary-with-a-capital-L pedigree; his fiction had won and / or was nominated for a couple of awards. Two, Durham is a writer of color and Epic Fantasy is a genre dominated, to a large degree, by old white dudes. In other words, on the surface, he was bringing a very unique perspective to a genre that rests heavily on familiar tropes and story elements. Underneath the surface is a superb novel on many levels.

The War with the Mein opens on a kingdom during a gilded age during its waning days, King Leodan is old weakened, but keeps up a façade for his children whom he loves above everything; he wishes them to see only the beauty in the world. When the king is murdered in full view by an ancient enemy, the children soon learn of the truth behind the thin façade their father was projecting. The prosperity of Acacia has been built on the backs of slaves and its own citizens who are addicted to a drug, the mist, the monarchy uses to keep the populace under control.

The king’s plan upon dying was to scatter the children across the world so they could learn about the world outside without the rose tinted glasses afforded them by their station as royalty. Of course, not all goes to plan and eldest daughter Corinn is left behind to be slave and concubine to Hanish Mein, leader of the nation who brought down King Leodan.

Cover Art
UK Edition

Durham tells the novel in three major parts, introduction of the Arkan family, scattering of the Arkan family across the Known World, and their return to claim their birthright as heirs to the throne. The eldest son, Aliver, arrives in an untamed land of Talay where he rises through hard work and challenges to become a mythic hero; youngest son Dariel becomes a privateer/pirate under the name Spratling, and youngest daughter Mena barely survives her journey and finds herself on an island where she’s proclaimed to be the reincarnation of a powerful bird goddess, Maeben. As mentioned, Corinn is left behind and her relationship with Hanish is fascinating to watch unfold as she develops feelings for the man who tore her world asunder.

Of the Epic Fantasy novels I’ve read (and I’ve read quite a few), Durham manages to pull off the myth come to life better than any of them this side of Robert Jordan. He taps into the intersection of the collective unconscious of myth and power of trope to evoke a resonant tale in this first installment of Acacia. Reading the book felt like reading a powerful myth that informed a society.

In my earlier review of the novel, I may have been tad too tough on the book, in terms of Durham’s supposed info-dumps. On second reading, I did not get a sense of that at all and was fully swept up in the tale he was telling. 

I also, on this second reading, was able to get a better feel for the structure of the novel. Re-reading it, I realize how similar the first third of the novel; essentially, the set up; is to the setup of many other fantasies. However, just when the reader is lulled into that familiarity; BAM! Durham upends the playing table and lets the story roll down a new path of his own making. On a somewhat more granular level, each chapter is just long enough to consume in relatively brief settings so a sense of reading accomplishment is gained, and with that a great feel of progression in the story is accomplished. By novel’s end, Durham achieves resolution with each of the four siblings, but left me wanting more with the implications of how the story was resolved.

Full spread of Mass Market Paperback

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that Epic Fantasy is my favorite branch of Speculative Fiction and when done right, when the familiar elements are imbued with fresh flavors, it is what I like the most. With The War with the Mein, David Anthony Durham has done it all right and launched what looks to be a great fantasy saga. (As of this writing, I'm about 1/3 into the second novel in the trilogy, The Other Lands.) The conflict of different ideologies, rather than black and white good v. evil; the feel of the story as an evolving, living myth (which happens to be the title of the third portion of the novel); ancient powers of sorcery reawakening; monstrous creatures; adventure; etc., all come together so well.

In short, this book was well worth the second read and I highly, highly recommend it.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-11-09)

Just one lonely book this week arrived for review...


Fiddlehead (Clockwork Century Series #5) by Cherie Priest (Tor , Trade Paperback 11/12/2013) – The fifth and final book in Preist’s popular and steampunk acclaimed series. Another rollicking alternate history from Cherie Priest’s series which began with Boneshaker.

Young ex-slave Gideon Bardsley is a brilliant inventor, but the job is less glamorous than one might think, especially since the assassination attempts started. Worse yet, they're trying to destroy his greatest achievement: a calculating engine called Fiddlehead, which provides undeniable proof of something awful enough to destroy the world. Both man and machine are at risk from forces conspiring to keep the Civil War going and the money flowing.

Bardsley has no choice but to ask his patron, former president Abraham Lincoln, for help. Lincoln retired from leading the country after an attempt on his life, but is quite interested in Bardsley’s immense data-processing capacities, confident that if people have the facts, they'll see reason and urge the government to end the war. Lincoln must keep Bardsley safe until he can finish his research, so he calls on his old private security staff to protect Gideon and his data.

Maria “Belle” Boyd was a retired Confederate spy, until she got a life-changing job offer from the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Pinkerton respects her work, despite reservations about her lingering Southern loyalties. But it’s precisely those loyalties that let her go into Confederate territory to figure out who might be targeting Bardsley. Maria is a good detective, but with spies from both camps gunning for her, can even the notorious Belle Boyd hold the greedy warhawks at bay?

SFFWorld Round-up: Bach, Dalglish, Robertson, Paolini, and Wexler

Another round up of what's been posted to SFFWorld in today's blog post....

Last week, I posted my review of a contender for my favorite Science Fiction novel of the year, Fortune's Pawn, the first Paradox novel by Rachel Bach:

Devi meets and interacts with the motley crew of the Glorious Fool, – Captain Caldswell, who runs the ship with near military precision; Rupert who is “just a cook” (not); the bird like aeon pilot Basil who literally navigates from a nest; the tall lizard-like xith’cal doctor Hyrek (right, a doctor from a race which enjoys the taste of human flesh); the captain’s daughter Ren who is protected by Rupert; Cotter, the other security mercenary who joined the ship with Devi; and Mabel, the ship’s engineer who has the longest relationship with Captain Brian Caldswell; and Nova, who oversees the ships diagnostics. . Amidst this backdrop, the Glorious Fool is a trading vessel, not unlike the Serenity of Joss Whedon’s Firefly. Of course, we’d have very little story if the vessel were a simple trader. The character with whom Devi has the closest relationship as the novel progresses is Rupert; he is the love interest. He is the unconquerable man who doesn’t give into Devi’s charms immediately; Rupert is initially something of a stonewall. If anything, he may be a little too perfect. The romance between the two takes up a significant portion o

f the narrative energy.

...

I was a fan of the Eli Monpress novels written under the author’s real name Rachel Aaron, so when I learned she was shifting to space-based science fiction (so far, these books seem an equal mix military science fiction, space opera, and adventure SF), I was excited. That excitement was fulfilled. In the Eli Monpress novels, Aaron played with some genre conventions, but here writing as Bach she does much more upending of the genre tropes. For starters, the protagonist is a woman where a majority of protagonists in military SF have been male. That said, Devi is as aggressive on every level of her character as any male protagonist who preceded her in the genre. She goes after the men she wants, goes after the targets at which she aims, and tackles just about every obstacle in her way. She names her weapons and her power armor. Point being, she’s larger than life and in your face and I felt as if I got along well with her voice.

Mark had a look at self-published sensation turned newest Orbit fantasy author, David Dalglish and his fantasy novel, A Dance of Cloaks:

As a debut book in the series, A Dance of Cloaks is a ting-out-the-stall’ kind of book, where the reader is introduced to characters and places that it is clear will all be developed later, and undoubtedly with paths that will cross at some point. There are quite a few different characters to follow here, some major, others minor, but who may become more important later. Of the families, much of the plot deals with the life-changing events around two main characters. In the Trifect group, Alyssa Gemcroft, is the main heroine, the heir to the Gemcroft family fortune, used as a political device by her father Maynard, available for marriage to the right suitor. As you might expect, she rejects this.

...

Whilst the characters are nothing really new, and the plot admittedly rather generic, this is a book that revels in, and can be enjoyed for, its familiarity. With such a book, a reader does not need to spend time wrestling with deep concepts or revelatory stylistic touches. Readers can be assured that what they expect is what they get, to enjoy the plot developments as they happen, feel engaged with a story that uses straightforward language and enjoy a tale that basically is done well. Its purpose is to entertain.

Most recently, I reviewed Freya Robertson's debut novel, Heartwood. Robertson also recently provided SFFWorld with a guest post. Here's the cover, link, and review snapshot:

Robertson introduces many of the players at this gathering including the Holy Knights of the Heartwood, elite defenders of the Arbor as well as the many nations gathering to meet for a potential halt to hostilities. The protagonist, at least for the first third of the novel, seems to be Chonrad, a man who tried but was unsuccessful at becoming a Holy Knight and is sent to represent his nation at the Congressus. The Knights are led by Procella, a woman with whom Chonrad feels a great connection. Other knights include Beata, another female knight and Dean at Heartwood; twins Gravis and Gavius. Additionally, members of other nations, such as Fionnghuala of the Hanairean and Grimbeard, of the Wulfian where war rules all and men just take women are introduced.

...

What started as a novel with great potential conflict and interesting, if familiar, world and story fell under the weight of info-dumps and backstory. I liked the characters, I liked the world, but after the ample world-building in the first third of the novel, I felt ready for the story, particularly since it seemed to be pointed in the direction of multiple quests, to move at a more brisk pace. With each of the quests the characters were split up to undertake, we learned more about the characters. Too many weighty details are revealed about the characters by the characters themselves as inner monologue to allow for narrative the move along at a good pace.

We've also got some new interviews, including:

Christopher Paolini

Django Wexler

Blake Crouch

The Completist: Greg Keyes's "The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone"

Yesterday, John at SF Signal post the latest edition my latest Completist column, this time featuring Greg Keyes's Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, a series I enjoyed thoroughly as I read when each volume published.

For reference, here are the links to each of the books in the series I wrote for SFFWorld as well as the interview I conducted with Greg (via telephone) at the launch of The Briar King. 

The Briar King review

The Charnel Prince review

The Blood Knight review

The Born Queen review

Interview with Greg Keyes

New Template, Version 6

About eight months ago, I changed the template on my blog so naturally, I'm changing it again today.  While the previous template looked pretty nice, I realized after reading quite a few books on my kindle, I like reading white/light grey text on a black background. Also, I don't like the way my sidebar was hidden in the previous dynamic view of the blog. 

This current design is very close to what it was prior to the change over in March. Yeah, I know, I'm a little obsessed with the Red and Black color combination, but the colors  happen to be from my alma mater and my favorite NHL team, the (currently terrible) New Jersey Devils.

So, here it is, the 6th iteration of my blog.  I'll also show off one of the signatures I received at NY Comic Con last month, Elizabeth Bear's signature on Range of Ghosts.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-11-02)

Another week, another smattering of new books at for potential review, the majority of these are electronic copies on my kindle.



The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard (Strange Chemistry, Paperback 01/02/2014) – Post future war setting, artificial intelligence, this one has a nice mix of post-apocalyptic, post human and military SF wrapped under a gorgeous eye-popping cover.

Seventeen-year-old Riven is as tough as they come. Coming from a world ravaged by a devastating android war, she has to be. There’s no room for softness, no room for emotion, no room for mistakes. A Legion General, she is the right hand of the young Prince of Neospes, a parallel universe to Earth. In Neospes, she has everything: rank, responsibility and respect. But when Prince Cale sends her away to find his long-lost brother, Caden, who has been spirited back to modern day Earth, Riven finds herself in uncharted territory.

Thrown out of her comfort zone but with the mindset of a soldier, Riven has to learn how to be a girl in a realm that is the opposite of what she knows. Riven isn’t prepared for the beauty of a world that is unlike her own in so many ways. Nor is she prepared to feel something more than indifference for the very target she seeks. Caden is nothing like Cale, but he makes something in her come alive, igniting a spark deep down that goes against every cell in her body. For the first time in her life, Riven isn’t sure about her purpose, about her calling. Torn between duty and desire, she must decide whether Caden is simply a target or whether he is something more.

Faced with hideous reanimated Vector soldiers from her own world with agendas of their own, as well as an unexpected reunion with a sister who despises her, it is a race against time to bring Caden back to Neospes. But things aren’t always as they seem, and Riven will have to search for truth. Family betrayals and royal coups are only the tip of the iceberg. Will Riven be able to find the strength to defy her very nature? Or will she become the monstrous soldier she was designed to be?

The Almost Girl is a richly imagined story of defiance, courage, and heart. It is the tale of a girl who finds her own way on her own terms, a girl who won’t let what she is define her, and a girl who will sacrifice everything she is for the ones she loves. It is a story of someone who eclipses her predestined fate to become something more … something extraordinary. 

A Different Kingdom by Paul Kearney (Solaris Books, Paperback 01/28/2014) – This is claimed to be the best novel Kearney’s written, and he’s written quite a few well-received novels. This is a reissue with a beautiful new cover.

A different kingdom of wolves, woods and stranger, darker, creatures lies in wait for Michael Fay in the woods at the bottom of his family's farm.

Michael Fay is a normal boy, living with his grandparents on their family farm in rural Ireland. In the woods there are wolves; and other things, dangerous things. He doesn’t tell his family, not even his Aunt Rose, his closest friend.

And then, as Michael wanders through the trees, he finds himself in the Other Place. There are strange people, and monsters, and a girl called Cat.

When the wolves follow him from the Other Place to his family’s doorstep, Michael must choose between locking the doors and looking away – or following Cat on an adventure that may take an entire lifetime in the Other Place.

The Iron Wilves by Andy Remic (Angry Robot Books, Paperback 12/31/2013) – I read one of Remic’s early SF novels War Machine and enjoyed. Since then, he’s published quite a handful of novels.

Thirty years ago, the Iron Wolves held back mud-orc hordes at the Pass of Splintered Bones, and led a brutal charge that saw the sorcerer Morkagoth slain. This ended the War of Zakora, and made the Iron Wolves heroes.

Now, a new terror stalks the realm. In hushed whispers, it is claimed the Horse Lady, Orlana the Changer, has escaped from the Chaos Halls and is building an army, twisting horses, lions and bears into terrible, bloody hunters, summoning mud-orcs from then slime and heading north to Vagandrak where, it said, the noble King Yoon has gone insane...

After hearing a prophecy from a blind seer, aged General Dalgoran searches to reunite the heroes of old for what he believes will be the final battle. But as mud-orcs and twisted beasts tear through the land, Dalgoran discovers the Iron Wolves are no longer heroes of legend... Narnok is a violent whoremaster, Kiki a honey-leaf drug peddler, and Prince Zastarte a drinker, a gambler, amoral and decadent: now he likes to hear people scream as they burn...

United in hate, the Iron Wolves travel to the Pass of Splintered Bones; and as half a million mud-orcs gather, General Dalgoran realises his grave error. Together, the Iron Wolves hold a terrible secret which has tortured them for three decades. Now, they only wish to be human again...

Dirty Magic (Book 1 of The Prospero’s War Series by Jaye Wells (Orbit Books, Paperback 01/21/2014) – The prolific Wells launches a new urban fantasy series.

MAGIC IS A DRUG. CAREFUL HOW YOU USE IT.

The Magical Enforcement Agency keeps dirty magic off the streets, but there's a new blend out there that's as deadly as it is elusive. When patrol cop Kate Prospero shoots the lead snitch in this crucial case, she's brought in to explain herself. But the more she learns about the investigation, the more she realizes she must secure a spot on the MEA task force.

Especially when she discovers that their lead suspect is the man she walked away from ten years earlier - on the same day she swore she'd given up dirty magic for good. Kate Prospero's about to learn the hard way that crossing a wizard will always get you burned, and that when it comes to magic, you should never say never.

Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson (TOR Hardcover 11/05/2013) – Near future SF with an alternate history twist.

From Robert Charles Wilson, the author of the Hugo-winning Spin, comes Burning Paradise, a new tale of humans coming to grips with a universe of implacable strangeness.
Cassie Klyne, nineteen years old, lives in the United States in the year 2015—but it’s not our United States, and it’s not our 2015.

Cassie’s world has been at peace since the Great Armistice of 1918. There was no World War II, no Great Depression. Poverty is declining, prosperity is increasing everywhere; social instability is rare. But Cassie knows the world isn’t what it seems. Her parents were part of a group who gradually discovered the awful truth: that for decades—back to the dawn of radio communications—human progress has been interfered with, made more peaceful and benign, by an extraterrestrial entity. That by interfering with our communications, this entity has tweaked history in massive and subtle ways. That humanity is, for purposes unknown, being farmed.

Cassie’s parents were killed for this knowledge, along with most of the other members of their group. Since then, the survivors have scattered and gone into hiding. Cassie and her younger brother Thomas now live with her aunt Nerissa, who shares these dangerous secrets. Others live nearby. For eight years they have attempted to lead unexceptional lives in order to escape detection. The tactic has worked.

Until now. Because the killers are back. And they’re not human.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-10-26)

The last full week of October brings a few books to the 'o Stuff household...


Iron Winter (Book Three of The Northland Trilogy) by Stephen Baxter (Roc Hardcover 11/05/2013) – The conclusion of Baxter’s distant past alternate history saga.

Praised as “not only a gifted storyteller but also a master of speculative fiction” (Library Journal), bestselling author Stephen Baxter brings his epic Northland trilogy to a close as a once-thriving civilization faces winter without end....

Many generations ago, the Wall was built to hold back the sea. A simple dam, it grew into a vast linear city, home to scholars, builders, and merchants. Northland’s prosperity survived wars and unrest—and brought the whole of Europe together.

But now darkness is falling. Days grow shorter, temperatures colder, and in the wake of long winters come famine, destruction, and terror. As a mass exodus to warmer climes threatens to fracture Northland, one man believes he can outwit the cold, and even salvage some scraps of the great civilization—before interminable gloom settles over the land; before the fires of war lay waste to an empire; before the ice comes....

The Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi (Mulholland Books, Hardcover 11/19/2013) – Carrisi was one awards for his fiction in his native Italy, this is his second novel to appear in the US through Mulholland Books.

A grieving young widow, seeking answers to her husband’s death, becomes entangled in an investigation steeped in the darkest mysteries of Rome.


Sandra Vega, a forensic analyst with the Roman police department, mourns deeply for a marriage that ended too soon. A few months ago, in the dead of night, her husband, an up-and-coming journalist, plunged to his death at the top of a high-rise construction site. The police ruled it an accident. Sanda is convinced it was anything but.

Launching her own inquiries, Sanda finds herself on a dangerous trail, working the same case that she is convinced led to her husband’s murder. An investigation which is deeply entwined with a series of disappearances that has swept the city, and brings Sandra ever closer to a centuries-old secret society that will do anything to stay in the shadows.>

Archetype by M.D. Waters (Dutton, Hardcover 02/06/2014) – This is Waters’s debut novel, which will soon be followed six months later by the sequel to this novel.

Introducing a breathtakingly inventive futuristic suspense novel about one woman who rebels against everything she is told to believe.

Emma wakes in a hospital, with no memory of what came before. Her husband, Declan, a powerful, seductive man, provides her with new memories, but her dreams contradict his stories, showing her a past life she can’t believe possible: memories of war, of a camp where girls are trained to be wives, of love for another man. Something inside her tells her not to speak of this, but she does not know why. She only knows she is at war with herself.

Suppressing those dreams during daylight hours, Emma lets Declan mold her into a happily married woman and begins to fall in love with him. But the day Noah stands before her, the line between her reality and dreams shatters.

In a future where women are a rare commodity, Emma fights for freedom but is held captive by the love of two men—one her husband, the other her worst enemy. If only she could remember which is which. . . .

The first novel in a two-part series, Archetype heralds the arrival of a truly memorable character—and the talented author who created her.>

Recent Reviews and Colums: John Marco, Dan Simmons, Scott Lynch, & L.E. Modesitt

It has been quite a while since I did a round up of my reviews and columns, s, here goes...

Earlier this week, the latest installment of my column at SF Signal, The Completest was posted. This time 'round, I feature a decade-plus old trilogy by a writer whose work I've come to enjoy with every new book. The column covers John Marco's Tyrants and Kings trilogy.

My latest Tor.com review was posted earlier this week, The Abominable by Dan Simmons. I've read a handful of novels by Simmons and enjoyed most of them quite a bit.  Unfortunately, the same can't be said for The Abominable:

Simmons uses a clever framing device in the novel, inserting himself into the narrative. The first chapter, which at first seems like a typical author’s introduction, turns out to be a recounting of a fictitious meeting between Simmons and the protagonist of the main novel, Jacob Perry, a veteran mountain climber who once attempted to climb Mount Everest. The character Dan Simmons secures a meeting with Perry to initially discuss Perry’s experience in an expedition in Antarctica for a novel he plans on writing. In what is just the first of many a misdirection in the novel, Perry’s experience on Mount Everest turns out to be the story Simmons reveals rather than anything involving an Antarctic expedition.

...

The details and minutiae of mountaineering comprises a great deal of the narrative, to the point where I felt it bogged down what was I thought was supposed to be a novel with the feel of a thriller. The scenes involving Perry’s party first meeting Sigl in a German bar were some of the strongest and most tense in the novel. Here, the character development Simmons put into this novel, coupled with a historically familiar setting gave The Abominable a feel of authenticity.

A few weeks ago, I read The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch, which published on October 8.  I liked it with some minor reservations.

The main storyline involves Locke’s recovery from a severe poisoning, through the help of the powerful Bondsmagi (sort of like demi-god wizards) named Patience. The price of that cleansing is maneuvering the Local elections to produce an outcome that is beneficial to one of two factions of the Bondsmagi. Locke’s opponent is his lost love Sabetha, who Locke hasn’t seen in years. So on one side, you’ve got Locke and Jean Tannen, and on the other Sabetha. Part of what makes this such an enthralling enterprise for Locke (and the reader) is the long-awaiting (awaited) chance to see Sabetha. Before they actually see each other; however, their cons begin and as the story progresses, Lynch builds a great deal of tension – dramatic, sexual, and altogether addictively frustrating – between the two former lovers and partners. They’ve been instructed by their Bondsmagi masters to not team up with each other against the Bondsmagi, but that doesn’t stop them from meeting with one another on several occasions. These meetings between Sabetha and Locke are fraught with a tense thin line between Sabetha and Locke that divides the truth from both characters from trying to con each other. In point of fact, the election could have easily been called the Macguffin election since it serves more of a thing to get Sabetha and Locke (and Jean to a lesser extent) reunited and shine as characters rather than having an immediate effect on their world.

Most recently, I reviewed the first installment of L.E. Modesitt's popular and long-running fantasy saga, The Magic of Recluce. Despite receiving many, many of Modesitt's books review, this was the first one by him I decided to read. I enjoyed this one quite a bit and think I may have found another massive fantasy series I'll be following.

Lerris is a bored young man, he tells us this with regularity through the first person narration Modesitt employs for a great majority of the novel. People like Lerris who don’t fit within the Brotherhood’s strictly governed land of Recluce, are given two choices – partake in the dangergeld, a journey people of this world go through in order to find their purpose or be exiled. Lerris’ parents send him to apprentice under his woodworker Uncle, which they think will give him the discipline he requires when he partakes in the ritualistic dangergeld. While he becomes good at woodworking, he of course becomes bored with it, despite the familial ties. When he readies to leave, his uncle Sardit gifts him an incredibly beautiful wrought staff of black wood, bound at the ends in metal
...
Modesitt has been writing for more than thirty years and at the time The Magic of Recluce was published, he’d been writing and publishing science fiction for nearly twenty years; it was his first fantasy novel. While the framework of The Magic of Recluce is classic in nature, he brings in enough of a unique take to make the novel an extremely enjoyable read. Initially, Lerris was not the most…pleasant of characters. His continual boredom and interactions with other characters made him come across as somewhat caustic. Not exactly the preferred qualities of a protagonist, especially when that protagonist is telling the story as the first person narrator. What made Lerris’s journey believable was Modesitt’s ability to not just make the hero bearable in the fantastical situation, but to slowly turn him into an admirable mature man.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-10-19)

Here's the small haul for this week at the 'o Stuff. I've given up trying to predict which books I'll read of those that arrived, but I have enjoyed books by two of authors in today's post.


Copperhead (Ironskin #2) by Tina Connolly (Tor Hardcover 10/15/2013) – Turn of the Century Fantasy of Manners, sequel to Ironskin


Set in an alternate version of early 1900s England, Copperhead is the sequel to Tina Connolly's stunning historical fantasy debut.

Helen Huntingdon is beautiful—so beautiful she has to wear an iron mask.

Six months ago her sister Jane uncovered a fey plot to take over the city. Too late for Helen, who opted for fey beauty in her face—and now has to cover her face with iron so she won’t be taken over, her personality erased by the bodiless fey.

Not that Helen would mind that some days. Stuck in a marriage with the wealthy and controlling Alistair, she lives at the edges of her life, secretly helping Jane remove the dangerous fey beauty from the wealthy society women who paid for it. But when the chancy procedure turns deadly, Jane goes missing—and is implicated in a murder.

Meanwhile, Alistair’s influential clique Copperhead—whose emblem is the poisonous copperhead hydra—is out to restore humans to their “rightful” place, even to the point of destroying the dwarvven who have always been allies.

Helen is determined to find her missing sister, as well as continue the good fight against the fey. But when that pits her against her own husband—and when she meets an enigmatic young revolutionary—she’s pushed to discover how far she’ll bend society’s rules to do what’s right. It may be more than her beauty at stake. It may be her honor...and her heart.

Fiendish Schemes by Tor Trade Paperback 10/15/2013) – Sequel to Jeter’s landmark Stempunk novel Infernal Devices



In 1986 K. W. Jeter coined the term "steampunk," applying it to his first Victorian-era science fiction alternate-history adventure. At last he has returned with Fiendish Schemes, a tale of George Dower, son of the inventor of Infernal Devices, who has been in new self-imposed exile…accumulating debts.

The world Dower left when he went into hiding was significantly simpler than the new, steam-powered Victorian London, a mad whirl of civilization filled with gadgets and gears in the least expected places. After accepting congratulations for his late father's grandest invention—a walking, steam-powered lighthouse—Dower is enticed by the prospect of financial gain into a web of intrigue with ominously mysterious players who have nefarious plans of which he can only guess.

If he can locate and make his father’s Vox Universalis work as it was intended, his future, he is promised, is assured. But his efforts are confounded by the strange Vicar Stonebrake, who promises him aid, but is more interested in converting sentient whales to Christianity—and making money—than in helping George. Drugged, arrested, and interrogated by men, women, and the steam-powered Prime Minister, Dower is trapped in a maelstrom of secrets, corruption, and schemes that threaten to drown him in the chaos of this mad new world.


Stalking the Beast (A Pathfinder Tales novel) by Howard Andrew Jones (Paizo Mass Market Paperback 10/22/2013) – This is Jones’s second Pathfinder novel and I loved his second installment of The Chronicles of Sword and Sand so I’ll be reading this one.

When a mysterious monster carves a path of destruction across the southern River Kingdoms, desperate townsfolk look to the famed elven ranger Elyana and her half-orc companion Drelm for salvation. For Drelm, however, the mission is about more than simple justice, as without a great victory proving his worth, a prejudiced populace will never allow him to marry the human woman he loves. Together with a fresh band of allies, including the mysterious gunslinger Lisette, the heroes must set off into the wilderness, hunting a terrifying beast that will test their abilities—and their friendships—to the breaking point and beyond.

From acclaimed author Howard Andrew Jones comes a new adventure of love, death, and unnatural creatures, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. 


 







Starhawk by Jack McDevitt (Ace, Hardcover 11/05/2012) – I’ve read a handful of novels from McDevitt and enjoyed most of them. This is a prequel to the series featuring the character who first appeared in The Engines of God

Priscilla Hutchins has been through many experiences. This is the story of her first unforgettable adventure…

Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins has finally realized her lifelong dream: She's completed a nerve-bending qualification flight for a pilot's license.

Her timing is far from optimal, however. Faster-than-light travel has only recently become a reality, and the World Space Authority is still learning how to manage long-range missions safely. To make matters worse, efforts to prepare two planets for colonization are killing off native life-forms, outraging people on Earth.

So there's not a lot of demand for space pilots. Priscilla thinks her career may be over before it has begun. But her ambition won't be denied, and soon she is on the bridge of an interstellar ship, working for the corporation that is responsible for the terraforming.

Her working conditions include bomb threats, sabotage, clashes with her employers—and a mission to a world, adrift between the stars, that harbors a life-form unlike anything humanity has ever seen. Ultimately, she will be part of a life-and-death struggle that will test both her capabilities and her character…

New York Comic-Con 2013

So...New York Comic-Con...this year was the second year I attended and this time, I was able to get in with a Press Pass thanks to the writing I do for SFFWorld and now Tor.com and SF Signal. Also, thanks to Myke Cole for suggesting I try to get a Press Pass.

Last year, I attended on Saturday with my wife but this year, I flew solo on Friday thinking (and hearing from other folks) that Friday is typically not as crowded as Saturday.  Not so much, if anything, Friday this year was as packed as Saturday was last year.

As I was getting closer to the Javits Center (which, every time I go there, amazes me with how big it is), I chatted with a Dalek.  Rather, we exchanged shouts of "Exterminate!" at each other.

R to L Mike Sullivan, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear,
Brian Staveley, and Drew Karpyshyn

The first thing I did was head over to the The Wheel of Time Turns and Epic Fantasy Remains Epic! panel in the basement at the back back back of the convention.I've read three of the five authors (Sullivan, Lynch, & Bear) on the panel and may try the other two in the near future. Brian Staveley in particular impressed me with how comfortable he came across.  It was a fun panel and the authors seemed to get along nicely. Of course, it helps when two of them are partners, Bear and Lynch. The panel was moderated by Maryelizabeth Hart of Mysterious Galaxy books and she did a fine job.

At the conclusion of the panel, I had a chance to chat a bit with Irene Gallo whom everybody reading this likely knows is the art director for Tor (as such, she's responsible for the gorgeous design on Brian's debut novel The Emperor's Blades) and one of my bosses at Tor.com. We chatted a bit about Breaking Bad (happened to be wearing my Breaking Bad/Game of Thrones mash-up T-Shirt) and I had to make sure I told Irene how great the post she did at Tor.com featuring the printing process of A Memory of Light was.

I swaggered over to the autographing to get my books signed by Michael (Theft of Swords), Scott (The Lies of Locke Lamora 1st US HC), and Elizabeth (Range of Ghosts).  I bumped into Mike Underwood (author of Geekomancy and Angry Robots Marketing) on line and chatted with him a bit and realized I need to read his books. From there, I entered the chaos that is the main floor of the Javits Center during New York Comic-Con.

To be honest, I was wandering around like a cross between a zombie and a kid at the annual carnival trying to get to everything I wanted to see. Friends of the family own a comic shop (JC Comics) so I wanted to make sure to visit them. Their double booth in the comic retailer area was swamped with customers rifling through the back-issue bins and buying comics. 

Strolling through the aisles, I stopped over at the Orbit Books booth, chatted with them a bit and had to admit that I was one of the few who didn't like a certain book they published and is getting rave reviews but that I was immensely enjoying Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach (aka Rachel Aaron).

At the Penguin Booth (ACE, ROC, DAW, RazorBill and other YA imprints) SFF Marketing guru and all-around awesome person Colleen Lindsay was running a tight ship, but a fun ship as she was keeping folks in line for book signings with a bull-horn.  I grabbed a few freebies from them, including a book I've been curious about - Fated by Benedict Jacka as well as The Nethergrim by Matthew Tobin (a YA fantasy publishing in April 2014) and Vitro from Jessica Khoury (a near future YA SF publishing in January 2014). 

I stopped by the 47North booth and was offered copies of The Wretched of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler and Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron.

Wandering the aisles I arrived at the booth for Abrams Books, who publishes lovely retrospective and coffee-table type books. I had to buy Jeff Vandermeer's Wonderbook, which is signed so I had no problems slapping down some cash for what is an amazingly gorgeous book. The DelRey/Spectra booth was very nice, and was packed for both the Jason M. Hough signing and the Scott Lynch signing. 

I wasn't walking out of the Javits Center without at least a few comics.  I needed volume five of Joe Hill/Gabriel Rodriguez's Locke & Key so I picked that up.  What I found surprising is that some of the comic publishers exhibiting weren't offering discounts on their books and merchandise (especially when the booth across from it, Midtown Comics, was offering a blanket 20% everything). Typically at these things, a discount of at least 10-20% is an across the board thing. Image was knocking off prices on some of their larger graphic novels and I was able to get a deal for 3 trades at the BOOM! booth, but Dark Horse wasn't offering anything. I would have picked up a couple of things if they were.  Based on a recommendation from Jeff Patterson on the SF Signal podcast (or maybe it was his new Three Hoarsmen with Fred Kiesche and John Stevens), I picked up The Hypernaturals by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning.  I'd been wanting to pick up/read Irredeemable by Mark Waid and Peter Krause for a while, so I picked up those two (and The Hypernaturals) at the BOOM! booth.  Lots of dealers were offering 50% of trade paperbacks and/or trades for a flat $10, so I picked up (after years of knowing I should be reading it) the first Hellblazer collection.

I made some more acquaintances at the Tor booth after informing them I wrote for Tor.com, in particular Marco Palmieri (I think) who was sporting an Orphan Black t-shirt so we both gushed about the show since I write about it.  Brian Staveley had a signing at 5PM (or was it 6PM?) and I was initially planning on sticking around for it, but between the crowds, my growing sense of claustrophobia, being on my feet all day, and wanting to make sure I got on a train to NJ that got me home in a timely fashion, I left at about 4:30. Regardless, hearing Brian on the panel (coupled with my SFFWorld colleague Nila's review of the book) convinced me to read The Emperor's Blades when it publishes.

I was really hoping RED BUBBLE would have a booth again this year, but sadly, they did not make it to the show so I didn't walk out with any new T-shirts for myself. However, I did pick up a "Coulson Lives" shirt for my wife who liked Coulson in the past Marvel movies, but has a full on crush thanks to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

As I was losing steam, I made one last pass through the aisle where the Del Rey booth was located and ran into of Myke Cole who gave me a Challenge Coin (probably the best thing I snagged at the con).  In tow was Peter V. Brett and his girlfriend Laura who was wearing a cool dress that looked to be comprised of panels from Marvel Comics.

The con seemed to run smoothly from my perspective, even if it was extremely crowded. As I get older, I'm liking crowds less and less. The only real gripe I have is with some of the folks who dress up. Rather, I have no problem with the cosplayers, on the whole because it is cool to see how inventive and accurate some of the people's costumes can be.  The issue is when somebody decides to dress up like a 10 foot tall robot and an entire crowded aisle needs to make a path for him. Or the people who hold up the foot traffic taking pictures of folks in a Deadpool costume having a sword fight with Link from Legend of Zelda.

Running Post: My First Half-Marathon

Normally, the postings you’ll read here at the ‘o Stuff revolve around books, movies, and TV shows. This one is slightly different. As some folks who follow me on twitter and facebook may be aware, I’ve been doing a lot of running over the past few years. Most recently, I’ve been training for a half-marathon. Well, yesterday, I completed my first half-marathon: the Shades of Death half-marathon in Allamuchy, New Jersey. (Shades of Death Road is one of haunted American roads, covered in Weird NJ)

I began running about four years ago after years of scoffing at it for many years. I would see people running in my neighborhood or on the treadmill at the gym and not get it. My quip was always if I need to get there faster than walking I’ll get in my car. Then one day, I decided to get on the treadmill after a weight training session and pushed through a mile. I realized I wanted to push more and pushed myself to four miles on a treadmill before taking my running outside and cancelling my gym membership. Over the past few years, I’ve gone from averaging 9-12 miles per week (about 3 miles per run), to 15-20 miles per week (between 4 and 8 miles per run) and participating in various 5K charity runs (the best and most organized of which is the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Trot in Flemington, NJ which has upwards of 7,000 participants), Warrior Dashes, and larger runs. 

What I once scoffed at has become a very big part of my life. Now that I've been running for about four years, if I don't get out and run at least three days a week, I feel as if I've failed a bit. You might say, this has become a bit of an addiction. In case the picture below isn't evidence, I'm what in runner's parlance as a Clydesdale.

My wife started running about a year after I did, but caught up quickly with (and surpassed) me because she had been doing P90X for a few years so she had the cardio aspect beat. She actually competed in a half marathon in the spring of this year (Rutgers Unite Half-Marathon) so Shades of Death was her second while it was my first. I've already signed up for the 2014 Rutgers Unite Half-Marathon.  I was extremely proud of her for kicking ass in April and completing the half-marathon and I realized I needed to catch up with her so we both signed up for the Shades of Death and recently for the Rutgers Half-Marathon  While my pace is faster than hers (I have much longer legs after all), she'll always have that first half-marathon ahead of me and helps to push me.

So, I was pretty happy with this half-marathon. A relatively flat course (aside from the hills at the beginning which we ran up twice since we looped the course twice for the 13.33 miles) which was a lot like running in my neighborhood since it was all farmland. I managed a pace of exactly 10 minutes/per mile, which is about where I should be.

I'm pretty proud of completing this thing.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-10-12)

Only a couple of new releases from Tor this week...

Esrever Doom (Xanth #37) by Piers Anthony (Tor, Hardcover 10/22/2013) – What can I say about a book series, heavy on puns, that is now has three dozen installments in the sequence? Not much, at this point with Anthony’s Xanth novels you are either reading them or ignoring them. Lots of folks must be buying them if this is the 37th. Anthony is one of those “classic” fantasy authors I’ve never read


Piers Anthony’s 37th adventure in Xanth changes the Mood to one of Doom!

Kody woke up in a hospital bed, not knowing how he got there. Before his questions could be answered, he was told that he was about to undergo surgery, and that there could be some side effects…. And then he woke up again, this time in Xanth.

Kody is the only person in Xanth who has not been affected by a dreadful spell that reverses how people see each other. What was adorable is now loathsome. What was ugly is now beautiful. What was loved is now hated. Kody has clearly arrived just in time! Only he has any hope of reversing the spell, turning Esrever Doom into Reverse Mood.

The Cusanus Game by Wolfgang Jeschke (Tor, Hardcover 12/24/2012) – Jeschke is German and this book is translated from his native language. He is also an editor at one of the larger SF publishing houses in Germany.
.



Biologist Domenica Ligrina fears her planet is dying. She might be right.

An atomic disaster near the French-German border has contaminated Northern Europe with radioactivity. Economic and political calamities are destroying the whole planet. Human DNA is mutating, plant species are going extinct, and scientists are feverishly working on possible solutions. It becomes increasingly apparent that the key to future salvation lies in the past. In 2052 a secret research facility in the Vatican is recruiting scientists for a mission to restore the flora of the irradiated territories. The institute claims to have time travel. When Domenica’s sometime-lover tells her that he knows her future but that she must decide her own fate, she enlists despite his ambiguous warning.

The Middle Ages hold Domenica spellbound. She immerses herself in the mysteries, puzzles, and peculiarities of a culture foreign to her, though she risks changing the past with effects far more disastrous than radiation poisoning. Perhaps there is more than one Domenica, and more than one catastrophe

In the tradition of Stanislaw Lem and Philip K. Dick, Wolfgang Jeschke's The Cusanus Game is a novel of future disaster in Europe by the grand master of German science fiction

Orphan Black, Coldfire and Old Mars Reviews and Recaps

Busy week on teh intarwebs for me and it is only Wednesday!  Three things I wrote over the past week or so have been posted in two of my newer digital locales.  

Monday, my latest recap of Orphan Black went up on Tor.com.  This was my recap of episode 4 Effects of External Conditioning.

Yesterday, my second installment of The Completist went up to SF Signal, featuring The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman.

Art by Michael Whelan

Also yesterday, my review of the Old Mars anthology edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois was posted on Tor.com.  The anthology features 15 stories on the theme of Mars as we once thought it could be. That is, when it was a planet we thought could be inhabited by ancient races.  Good stuff.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2013-10-05)

No books this week, so here are a couple of pictures of my dog Sully.

 

SFFWorld Review Round-up: Lawrence, Bond, Correia, and Leckie

It has been a while since I rounded up my reviews at SFFWorld, so here goes, starting with the "oldest" and finishing with the most recent review.

Mark Lawrence brought The Broken Empire, the story of his dark, cynical, and tortured protagonist Jorg to a close with Emperor of Thorns, cementing himself as a Important writer of fantasy in the early 21st Century.  This is a series that I loved and one that demands a second reading.

Going into the finale of a trilogy, the reader has certain expectations, certain hopes, and certain story beats they’d like the writer to hit. In many respects, the story and character of Jorg fight against expectations. In the previous volumes, Jorg has committed heinous acts and while he continues his misbehaving ways in Emperor of Thorns, in the “current” timeline of the novel he is more insightful of his past actions. Part of that is the result of the pending birth of his child, for one of Jorg’s greatest concerns in the narrative is not being a callous, heartless parent to his child like his father was to him. An older Jorg now reflects on how he should be proactively unlike his father rather than react to how his father treated him. Subsequently, this older Jorg has a goal that is greater than himself, extending even beyond the safety of his wife and child.

...

While Jorg’s journey to become Emperor could be considered the ‘skeleton’ of the novel, the muscles and support could be considered the backstory of the world. Details such as the Data Ghosts, the Builders and other elements that hint at the world before it was ‘broken’ become more prominent. The fact that these novels take place in a Post-Apocalyptic landscape of our future is no longer much of a secret to readers and Jorg’s exploration of ancient ruins become conjure familiar images. Through that, a dark sense of dread simmers off the page. Some of the dark depths to which Jorg delves are quite evocative to the point I’d like to see Lawrence try his pen with a full out horror story.

Gwenda Bond's second novel, The Woken Gods, published in the beginning of September and I liked it though not quite as much as I enjoyed her debut. Still, a solid novel from a very smart writer.

Soon enough, while venturing with her friends, Kyra enters a museum and draws the attention of two of the trickster gods; one who warns her and the other who threatens her. Fortunately for Kyra and her friends Tam and Bree, emissaries from the Society of the Sun, the human governing body which oversees much of the deities’ activities, steps in to prevent any problems from exacerbating. One of these emissaries, Osborne “Oz” Spencer takes a liking to her. Kyra hates to admit it to herself, but she also feels an

What ensues mixes a thriller plot with government conspiracy and a dash of family drama in a stew of mythology. For the most, these elements come together well and each feeds off and into the other elements very well. The government is tied up with Kyra’s family, the government is tied up with the gods, and Kyra seeks to both escape and save both. Sounds quite twisty-turny, but it was pretty solid mix of elements for my reading tastes.

...

Bond does a lot of things well in her second novel. Her pacing is as brisk and frenetic as in her previous novel and her characters, particularly the protagonist Kyra, is far more than simply the “plucky, clever girl.” Kyra’s emotions come across very well; her urge to help her father, the conflict she feels over Oz, and the fear she has for her friends. I empathized and believed in her as a character and felt for her plight. She takes the full spotlight.

I started reading Larry Correia's Monster Hunter series last year and I recently caught up with the second in the series, Monster Hunter Vendetta, which I thought was a blast:

Correia’s over-the-top ultra-violent style makes for a quickly paced novel. Since the government endorsed Monster Control Bureau has much to say in things involving monsters on US soil, they have made it their responsibility to ensure Owen is not abducted by the Necromancer, who happens to know very intricate details about Monster Hunter International. Not only does the Necromancer want a measure of revenge against Owen for thwarting his masters, the Old Ones (as depicted in Monster Hunter International), but because Owen is special. He is a once in era person who can be a key to the Old Ones entry and destruction of our reality. Further complicating matters for Owen, and all of the team of Monster Hunter International, is that the Necromancer hints of traitor in the ranks.

I also enjoyed the deeper exploration of the Old Ones (though Correia hasn’t fully mined this, I think) and more of the history of Monster Hunter International. In other words, I like the mythology for this world Correia has thus far built in the two novels. Granted, he’s using some ready-made ingredients with the Old Ones clear homages to the Lovecraft/Cthulhu mythos and the familiar element of a secret black ops paramilitary force fighting against the things normal people would not believe existed.

My most recent review and it is a contrarian review at that.  My twitter stream, at least those who read SFF like me, have been raving about this book for weeks.  For me, it just didn't work.  The book...Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie:

 

Leckie has an inventive point of view and injects a lot of originality into the novel. There’s interesting things to ponder in terms of evolution, singularity and machine intelligence in a far future. Breq is far from a reliable narrator and her past selves aren’t fully able to resolve themselves and their memories as she progresses through the present. The system of Justices and planetary colonization seems like it could be fodder for a great many stories. Although Leckie isn’t the first to posit intelligent, thinking star ships in a Space Opera setting, her execution and foundation from which the story flows is something she makes her own, it feels fresh.

...

The shifts between the past narrative and the present proved problematic, it wasn’t a smooth transition for me and I found myself having to re-read back a bit in some cases to get a better understanding of the timeframe in which the story lens was focusing at that time. Although the opening grabbed me, as the story progressed, the narrative and the character’s plight failed to significantly hold my attention.

Orphan Black Rewatch: Episode 3 "Variation Under Nature"

Up at Tor.com (as of Monday) is my recap/breakdown of the third episode of Orphan Black since BBC America re-aired the third episode this past Saturday.  Have a look, won't you?

Orphan Black Rewatch: “Variation Under Nature”