dark matter is a ghost story with a reality twist from michelle paver

Subtitled “A Ghost Story”, Michelle Paver’s Dark Matter is a clever book that takes an historical story and adds a supernatural twist.

Set in 1937, Dark Matter followers a group of young Englishmen who attempt to winter in the arctic circle for purposes of scientific research.
Based on the Oxford University Arctic Expedition of 1935, the book attempts to be as authentic as possible when it comes to describing everything from the type of “chaps” who went on these types of adventures to the technical details of their equipment, and even what they did to entertain themselves.
Paver includes reference material at the end of the book, highlighting that some of the concepts which you may have thought creative licence really occurred.
What she doesn’t know is true or not is the central theme of the haunting – although she does point out in the support material that many of the men who went on the real expedition mentioned an uneasiness about the area of the base camp.
What makes Dark Matter a truly gothic horror story is the creeping sensation of depression, being watched and the possibility of going mad in the long, long night of winter in the Arctic.
Jack is not the same as his companions on the trip; he’s poor despite his education, he’s got a bit of a death wish and hates his life. When the opportunity for this expedition arrives he’s oddly reluctant to take it and escape his horribly boring life.
But agreeing to go, Jack decides he’s going to do his utmost to squeeze every ounce of experience from the trip.
Is it his obsession to survive and succeed over his richer teammates or his innate depression that leads to the terrible things that Jack actually experiences in the ice?
It’s only Paver’s skill that allows the reader to make up their own mind about what really happened up there in the dark.
Dark Matters is an interesting read; while it might not make you scared of the dark, it will certainly make you think.
And should you ever find yourself lost in the snow somewhere and remember reading this book, it will make you shiver.

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver is published by Orion Books and is available from good book stores and online.

a fine line between flattery and imitation; the heir of night by helen lowe resonates with a song of ice and fire ...

This book is the first in a series, of course, it wouldn’t be in the fantasy genre if it wasn’t, but The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe is actually fit for the praise best-selling author and fantasy Queen Robin Hobb gives it; “a richly told tale.”

Unfortunately however, there are strong similarities to the great classic series A Song of Ice and Fire by American author George R. R. Martin and which is being turned into an HBO TV series called Game of Thrones after the first book of the series.
We have a lordly family living far from the kingdom’s capital, hard up against a “barrier” that many have forgotten protects the population from the “Night” and the “cold” … quite a few similarities already.
Add in a devastating attack at night, the intervention of unknown outsiders, the possibility of magic and the miraculous escape of the only heir and one might think that Lowe was copying rather too obviously.
However, The Heir of Night redeems itself through the intricate – and different – history and culture of this fantasy world; there are other bits and pieces too that make this not an actual copy of the classic series.
But Lowe has walked a very fine line – particularly when it comes to mad fans I would expect.
The central character is Malian, a girl who is not yet a woman but already the heir to her very cold, very distant father’s lordship and responsibility.
An invasion from beyond the wall that the family protects against finds Malian with her back against the wall, quite literally, and forces her to realise her hidden magical potential – something to be feared not only for its power but because it will bar her from rulership.
Lowe’s pacing is good, the action scenes are believable and her characters fully-fleshed out in many ways – although there are a fair few stereotypes filling up the plot’s gaps.
It will be interesting to see if Lowe can move the story forward in such a way as to remove more of the similarities to A Song of Ice and Fire; I hope so.

The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe is published by Orbit Books and is available at all good book stores and online. The next book in the series is The Gathering of The Lost.

quirky new idea in classic fantasy novel

Every so often a fantasy novel comes along that offers lovers of the genre something new and exciting; an idea or series of ideas that don’t seem to have been thought of before.

Anna Kendall’s Crossing Over is one of these books. The central premise – a boy is able to crossover into the afterlife through the application of pain – is different enough to stand out.
Roger lives a truly wretched life, forced to use this “gift”, which he sees as being more of a curse, by supposed relatives who inflict pain on him nightly in order to get money from those missing their dead.
Finally after seemingly endless passages of despair and depression – almost enough to make one give up reading, but not quite – Roger finds himself first free of the horrible relatives and then “saved” by mysterious woman.
Eventually, of course, Roger gets himself into trouble by telling the wrong people about his skill and before he realises it he’s the pivotal point for politics in his land.
Kendall has a great turn of phrase, her pacing is a little slow at first but gets better as Roger makes his way through his world. And her descriptive passages are very good.
Roger is the sort of character that most people can related to, he’s not perfect – despite, or because of his terrible upbringing – he’s quite weak and easily manipulated.
But throughout the story you feel that he’s at least trying to do the right thing, even if he gets caught up in his own power at times.
Crossing Over is a tightly written piece of dark fantasy – it would make a great present for anyone interested in the genre but looking for something a little different.

Crossing Over by Anna Kendall is published by Orion Books and is available from good book stores and online.

Young Adult Fiction with more depth than most

Like most urban fantasy for young readers, By Midnight from Mia James has the requisite young girl who’s clueless about her creepy new school, the mysterious good-looking boy, parents who are somehow out of the picture and things that go bump in the night.
So far, so boring.

Luckily By Midnight is saved by some actual reality in the form of a murder or two, a mother who can’t cope and a bemused but genuine cop.
James’ writing is also a step above the usual pap that these sorts of books are usually dowsed in. The prose is tight, the action relatively realistic and the characters fairly believable.
The central character April is a pretty normal teen who has been shifted to London by a family move and dumped at a posh school supposedly the only place available.
Her mother and father are busy working, and despite being relatively smart April feels like an outsider compared to her much more glamorous and brilliant school mates.
After a couple of mysterious happenings and a death, April realises that not only is something weird going on at her school, there’s something weird about her family as well.
There will, of course, be a sequel. There probably already is.
This is a good alternative to the other rubbish that’s out there; if only because it’s set in England and not America for a change.

By Midnight by Mia James is published by Orion Books and is available from good book stores and online.

jacqueline carey's carefully crafted world returns in naamah's curse

God I love Jacqueline Carey’s books. Her complex fantasy series Kushiel's Legacy was made up of six books, each as good or better than the previous one. When that series seemingly ended I was devastated.

So imagine my joy when the new series, Naamah Trilogy, was announced with the first book Naamah’s Kiss. 

Now the next in the series Naamah’s Curse has been released and the epic emotional, human yet different, world that Carey created in Kushiel’s Legacy has returned to her dedicated readers.

Carey’s world is almost an alternate history world, created not so much by positing that certain people didn’t die or different countries won historical wars – the usual structure for such genre novels – but rather by repositioning a religious movement away from a denial of sex and sexuality to one of acceptance and love.

Love, and sex, in all its forms is Carey’s central tenant in her fantasy world – the “real” countries and cultures of Europe, Russia and the United Kingdom are the basis for her new world, with a mythical France – Terra d’Ange, the land of the angels – being the source of her characters’ mystical connection with a god of love and compassion.

Although the central character of the Naamah books, Moirin, is half d’Angeline, she is also half Alban – a Celtic version of England with remnants of natural magic still in the blood of its people.

Read my review of Naamah’s Kiss: Kisses for Jacqueline Carey’s newest novel

Journeying halfway round the world to Ch’in – yes, China, but the mystical China of dragons and emperors and magic – Moirin finds herself falling in love, falling into danger and becoming first the mistress of a dragon-possessed princess before realising she still has to follow the wishes of her Alban goddess.

This bare telling of Moirin’s complex journey cannot begin to describe the sheer joy it is to read Carey’s books.
Her instinctual understanding of human nature and her ability to give form to psychological impulses in our psyches are what have made her books New York Times Bestsellers.
The novel is full of raunchy sex, loving and healing sex, action, dragons, magic, religious zealots, betrayal and luxurious indulgence set right next to terrible deprivation. A rich tapestry of borrowed cultures and countries add new characters at every turn.
But it is Carey’s complete non-judgement of sex, sexuality, emotional attachment and the bare essence of basic human feelings that makes her so compelling to read.
Although Khusiel’s Legacy and the Naamah Trilogy are set in a fantastic past, this lack of moral judgement is quintessentially modern; it offers a possible way for people to be; without imposed moralities, yet still with a binding requirement to not harm nor hurt other.
I can’t wait for the final instalment in the trilogy, Naamah’s Blessing, but I’m also dreading it; I don’t ever want to leave Carey’s carefully crafted, fascinating world.

Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

the way of kings is classic epic fantasy from brandon sanderson

Brandon Sanderson continues to show exactly why he was chosen to help finish Robert Jordan’s epic series The Wheel of Time with his first book in his second series, The Way of Kings: The Stormlight Archive Book One.

The Mistborn Trilogy, Sanderson’s first series has concluded to much critical and box office acclaim and now The Stormlight Archive series has launched with the thumpingly good The Way of Kings.

Read my review of The Mistborn Trilogy: Final instalment of Brandon Sanderson's The Mistborn Trilogy; The Hero of Ages

Sanderson is a fantasy writer of the traditional swords ‘n’ magic sort, but with an ability to add human emotion to inhuman characters, readers are never alienated.

In The Way of Kings, Sanderson introduces us to a world of storm and stone, where wild energy and magic of sorts comes from the devastating storms that lash the world.
A thousand years ago mythical knights protected the land from the depredations of a vicious enemy relying on “Shardblades” and “Shardplate” – armour and swords that give the wearing unending strength and magical powers of healing – to help them.
The knights have disappeared under clouded circumstances and although some Shardblades and Shardplate remain in the hands of a few warlords, it is little enough protection should the ancient enemy return.
As the past is lost in time the current batch of politicians, lords, kings and mercenaries occupy their time fighting seemingly pointless and endless battles. A new enemy has arisen, a race of generally subservient creatures used as slaves, has suddenly acquired a warlike offshoot and must be put down at all cost.
The battlefield is populated by soldiers and slaves, lords and ladies and a young king who has no idea what he is doing fighting this war, or why the enemy continues to hold off his supposedly invincible army led by Shard bearing warriors.
Slave to a lord, a young man who should have been a doctor finds himself becoming a defacto leader, attempting to do the impossible and protect his men; persecuted he begins to realise that he might not be just the simple soldier he always assumed he was.
On the other side of this world a young woman is attempting to ingratiate herself into the retinue of a renowned scholar to both learn but, more importantly, gain access to a coveted item that may, or may not, be able to help her family.
Sanderson deftly weaves these three main strands together with added detail from a plethora of minor characters; there is something moving in the storms, heading towards the heedless army battling for shiny rocks in a devastated landscape.
As with most fantasy novels, The Way of Kings is only the first in Sanderson’s new series that looks set to blow away readers and critics alike.
Sanderson is indeed a worthy heir to Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy crown; can’t wait for the next instalment. 

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

want to win every orbit book released next year? then enter the orbit quest

One of the biggest publishers of science fiction and fantasy novels, Orbit, has just announced an amazing competition for lovers of this genre.

The Australian branch is offering a competition which will see the winner receiving “every new release title from Orbit books for 2011 – around 70 books.

To enter the competition, readers have complete 12 tasks, each one of which gets a point. The person with the most points at the end of the event becomes the “Orbit Champion” for 2011. The more tasks you complete, the more points you get.

So far, 11 tasks have been announced:

• Task 1: Register your interest
• Task 2: Discuss your favourite moment
• Task 3: Post a fan picture of your bookshelf
• Task 4: Favourite Old Tongue word
• Task 5: Design a cover
• Task 6: Trivia Challenge
• Task 7: Review
• Task 8: Cool Crossovers
• Task 9: Suggest an alternative title
• Task 10: Confess your nerdiest moment
• Task 11: Dress up as your favourite character / post a picture
• Task 12: To be announced on the morning of October 30, 2010

The competition closes on November 30 at midnight, EST. For more details go to the Orbit Australia Facebook page or email: orbit@hachette.com.au

mix of celtic folklore & australia in new urban fantasy secret ones by nicole murphy

Finally, finally, an urban fantasy novel with something new to say. Secret Ones by Nicole Murphy is an interesting mix of Celtic folklore and imagination; and set in Australia, it has a different background to add to to it. 

Murphy is an Australian author who's worked as a teacher and journalist, as well as being instrumental in a number of “fandom” projects; she's also been a speculative fiction editor.
So one would assume she would know something about writing a good piece of urban, or speculative, fiction. Thankfully she does.
The “Secret Ones” of the title are the “gadda”, a people who while they look human; aren't. They can wield magic by borrowing energy from nature and using various spells.
Murphy's “gadda” are somewhat akin to the Celtic traditions of elves, there's an Irish connection – that seems to be where they come from – and general references to Celtic cultural practice as well.
Still, the concept is relatively fresh – although Laurell K Hamilton did it first with the Sidhe – elves or fey – living in modern America in her Merry Gentry series of books.
The addition of Australia is nice; better than yet another urban fantasy set in America. And the characters that Murphy has created are well-rounded and believable.
Maggie Shaunessy is an Australian-born gadda who has a history of protecting humans and working with humans – something that is looked down upon by another group of gadda who would prefer to stay “Pure” and have nothing to do with humans at all.
Maggie's family – at least her mother and grandfather – live in Australia and interact daily with humans, running a university and a medical clinic and trying to help them. Maggie's father is in Ireland, he's more traditional and possibly one of the Purists.
Added to the mix is a newcomer – and a love interest for Maggie, of course – Lucas Valeroso, a physicist who's from the wrong side of the tracks entirely, and totally unaware that he might not be entirely human.
Murphy mixes up black magic, stolen books, political machinations, historical feuds and romance with a vaguely recognisable Celtic mythology, to create an urban fantasy story that is relatively fresh for the reader.
Some of the descriptions and Maggie's musings are a bit clunky, but the dialogue is good, as is the pacing. There's not much of a twist to the plot, the reader is fairly certain where it's all leading by about halfway through, but it's a fun read nonetheless.
Secret Ones is the first book in what's shaping up to be at least a trilogy, if not a series; it will be interesting to see how it develops.

Secret Ones by Nicole Murphy is published by Harper Voyager and is available from good book stores and online.

firespell by chloe neill; another clichéd young adult urban fantasy novel

The latest Young Adult supernatural series to take off is The Dark Elite by Chloe Neill, with Firespell the first book to be published. 

Set in Chicago, the story follows teenager Lily Parker as she's sent off to boarding school while her parents head to Italy for a research posting of some sort. 

Lily is bemused but resigned to her new life until she discovers that her new BFF (Best Friend Forever), a girl called Scout who's been at the school her whole life, is sneaking out of their dorm and staying out all night.
Naturally Lily decides to follow her, only to discover that Scout isn't just her new friend, she's also part of a magic wielding group of teens who chase down and destroy monsters in the tunnels under the city.
So far, so typical. And unfortunately, that's about all that can be said for Firespell.
It's not terribly written, the characters are solid, believable teenagers – although the 'in' crowd of girls seem plucked from any angsty movie – there's something going on with the headmistress – who may or may not know what the kids are up to – and the plot's premise – you can only use your magic until you're 25, otherwise you begin to suck the life from others and become evil – isn't too clichéd.
However, the assumption of Lily accepting magic without a nervous breakdown, the seeming unconcern of adults about kids risking their lives every day, the placing of the story in a boarding school and the automatic success of these kids in getting the baddies, is all a bit trite. It reads like an American version of Harry Potter – and not in a good way.
Basically Firespell is yet another in a long line of recent series for Young Adults spiced with a bit of the supernatural. There's nothing really new going on – at least not yet. Perhaps the series will mature; but with such weak underpinnings, I doubt it.

Firespell by Chloe Neill is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

the world of the downside ghosts returns in stacia kane's unholy magic & city of ghosts

American author Stacia Kane continues her Downside Ghosts series with the second and third in the series, Unholy Magic and City of Ghosts. 

Readers are returned to the post-apocalyptic world of Chess Putnum, a church 'witch', able to see the ghosts that returned to plague the world and bring about the end of life as we know it. 

In Unholy Ghosts, the first book, readers were introduced to a new fantasy world where ghosts and magic are real; the Church of Real Truth runs the country and people try to get by as well as they can.

Read my review of Unholy Ghosts: Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane is fresh urban fantasy with a gritty, sideways feel

As always, however, there's an underside, a “downside” to society, and it's in this fringe world that Chess exists. Oh, and while Chess is nominally the heroine of these tales, she's no squeaky clean princess with powers – Chess is from the wrong side of the tracks, she's a Downsider, and she's a junkie. 

Her drug habit has gotten Chess into trouble before, walking the knife's edge of respectability to keep her Church job, while dealing with her local drug lord on the one hand and sleeping with the opposition, on the other. 

And in the middle is a great, big, ugly enforcer who is smarter than he looks and cares more for Chess than she'd like to admit. 

In Unholy Magic, Chess finds herself working with a VIP who may, or may not, be faking a haunting – a criminal offence with the Church; at the same time someone – or something – is killing prostitutes in Downside and Bump, Chess' dealer, wants her to make sure it's not magically linked. 

On top of this, Chess' feelings for Terrible – Bump's enforcer – are all confused, while her “just having sex, we're not in a relationship” with Lex – Bump's opposition – seems to be getting a little too heavy. 

Then there's the false medium that Chess helped put away – but some thing's not quite right there either – and the City of Ghosts is even more unsettled than it should be, despite the fact that it's almost the anniversary of the Rising – the time when the ghosts returned to the world to wreak their vengeance. 

Kane's world is thoroughly detailed and comprehensive – there are enough resonances with our current world to ensure the readers have something to hold on to; a sign of a quality piece of urban fantasy writing. 

As City of Ghosts opens, Chess is attending the execution of an unlicensed medium involved in the illegal use of magic; she's still recovering from her run in with the ghost whorehouse and bringing Terrible back to life with an ill-considered and possibly illegal rune – and he still won't talk to her. 

Before she's completely recovered from her last nasty experience, another one opens up inside the Church, and once again Chess is thrown into the thick of things. 

Her previous “successes” have made the Church think she's great at her job, so great that they second her to the Black Squad – the Church's secret service – and force her to not only be bound by an unbreakable and painful spell, but even worse, stick her with a partner – the head of the damned Church's daughter no less. 

On top of all this, to add insult to injury, Terrible finally found out about Lex and now he hates Chess, but he's the only person who's going to be able to help her out of the mess she's now involved in. Oh, and the Lamaru – the original anti-Church baddies from the first book – are back. Only this time they've got something even bigger in mind; they want to release the ghost from the Eternal City. 

Kane manages to keep the action pounding along in both Unholy Magic and City of Ghosts, not losing anything to developing the characters. Readers discover more about Terrible, he's not quite as bad as he wants people to think, and Lex turns out to be someone much more important than Chess thought he was. 

Chess' problems with men pale almost into insignificance when held up against her drug addictions; readers also discover just how badly hooked she really is, but are given some more insight into way Chess needs to self-medicate so badly. 

In some ways Chess' addictions balance out her skills in magic, and control them at the same time. And the addictions also help her hold it together, oddly enough. Like many children of foster homes and broken families, at the centre of Chess is a great, gaping hole of loneliness and self-loathing just waiting to implode and drag her down. The drugs allow Chess to ignore that danger, walling it up behind chemically created emotions that are much easier for her to deal with. 

The insight into Chess, her inability to enjoy intimacy, her need to replace caring with sex, also explains her mixed up feelings for Terrible. Kane's skill in blending these sharp observations about drug abuse and emotional trauma with an action-packed thriller and supernatural trappings is what makes these books so readable. 

Chess is the perfect anti-heroine; the antidote to the soppy, love obsessed teens dominating the urban fantasy genre at the moment. There's not a vampire or werewolf in sight – thank god – and the gritty truth of Chess' life adds depth to what could be dismissed as “just another fantasy novel”. 

There are more books in the Downside Ghosts series to come; I can't wait.

Unholy Magic and City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane are published by Harper Voyager and are available from good book stores and online.

the poison dairies is a sweetly, twisted story about obsession and love

The Poison Dairies is an odd little book on first look – it's published by HarperCollins' Children's Books imprint oddly enough considering both the sexual content, the poisoning and the betrayal at the centre of the story.

Set in England somewhere between the Reformation and the Restoration, The Poison Dairies tracks the life of Jessamine, the only child of a country doctor whose speciality seems to be healing through the use of plants.
The book opens with Jessamine carefully preparing the berries of the Belladonna plant, one of the most virulent poisons of their times.
The descriptions of the glossy, black berries and the fascination Jessamine has with them, her proprietorial air perfectly conveys the Gothic nature of this book.
Even the authoring – "by Maryrose Wood, based on a concept by The Duchess of Northumberland" – harks back to times past, of 18th century lady authors and overblown Gothic romances.
But The Poison Diaries is much more substantial that those tomes; there is a sharp clarity of phrase in Wood's prose and the dark, mythical characters of Weed – a foundling – and Oleander – the dark prince – seems informed by the stories of the Duke of Northumberland's historical family seat, Alnwick Castle, which broods over Jessamine's life.
It's not entirely clear who, or what, Weed is. Nor does one learn why Oleander chooses to speak to Jessamine. The magical nature of both men is never clearly defined, nor, in fact, fully proved.
But the sense of mystery and unease add an edge to what could have been an ordinary story.
This is a romance, yes, with Jessamine falling for Weed, but it is also, almost, a murder mystery. The Poison Dairies is a sweetly, twisted story about obsession and love – both romantic and familial.
Like a number of books I've recently read and reviewed – White Cat by Holly Black in particular – betrayal in the heart of one's home; the bosom of the family, also resonates in The Poison Dairies denouement.

The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood, based on a concept by The Duchess of Northumberland, is published by HarperCollins and is available from good books stores and online.

white cat by holly black has the twisted tale of an inherited secret at its centre

There's something to be said for the recent fascination with all things supernatural -- at least it's got young people reading again. The upsurge in what is defined as Young Adult fiction has included, unfortunately, any number of vampires and werewolves (Meyers has got a lot to answer for), but there's also been a corresponding increase in new forms of YA fantasy.
Holly Black's White Cat falls in to this category. The first in the Curse Workers series, Black introduces readers to a world where some people – generally not considered to be the "best type" of people – can make "curses" work.

It runs in families, usually, and although numbers are relatively small, there's a disproportionate number of them in jail or working for organised crime.
Which is what has happened to Cassel – his mother’s in jail, his brothers work for the local crime boss, and he's pretty sure he killed a girl when he was just a kid – well, even younger than he is now.
On top of those problems, Cassel doesn't have any magic. He's completely unable to curse anyone or anything, or at least that’s what he thinks.
White Cat is a coming of age tale, but despite its wrapping of fantasy and magic, it's actually quite gritty. Any modern day kid whose family works for the mob or the drug lord down the street would identify with Cassel's issues.
And the twisted tale of an inherited secret at the centre of Cassel's family is even nastier. In fact, White Cat is as much about losing trust in one's family, betrayal and the greed of human beings, as it about growing up.
Still, it's not all doom and gloom. Black writes with a light touch – there's no staring off into the distance and brooding, nor is there endless moaning about teen angst. Cassel isn't perfect, but he has a sense of humour and friends who like him, and eventually it – sort of – turns out alright in the end.
Black is clearly a young author to watch – it will be interesting to see what she comes up with in the next book of the series.

White Cat by Holly Black is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

wolfsangel by md lachlan is a celtic knot of cause and effect, loyalty and betrayal, nobility & dishonour

Every so often a book comes along that manages to grab the reader by the throat. Wolfsangel by MD Lachlan is one of these. Set in the time and places of the Vikings, Wolfsangel combines history, myth and a coming of age story with great aplomb.

Although peopled with a wide variety of characters who's lives and culture are far removed from the modern day, Lachlan manages to make both his hero and anti-hero approachable.
A Viking king, concerned about the lack of an heir, visits the witches to discover his fate. He's sent off to steal a child, told by the witches that this will be his heir and prince. Instead, he discovers two boy in his raid. By taking both children, the king Authun, begins a series of events that will lead to disaster and death.
Wolfsangel ranges from the time of the children’s birth, jumps to their adolescence and then rapidly moves towards the denouement.
One of the boys, Prince Vali, is being fostered away from his father Authun and is unaware that he has been adopted. The other boy, who is never really named, has been fostered with a "wolf clan" – wild humans who live as animals far from all civilisation.
Vali is shallow and sensitive; he's not at all cut out to be the blood-thirsty Viking his father and the other men would like him to be.
First Vali is sent on a raid, packed in an open boat with a bunch of drugged-up Berserkers; in which he doesn't really acquit himself all that well. Still, he survives, which is something, but manages to make a deadly enemy, one who will come back to haunt him.
And Vali is in love; but with a local farm girl rather than the Princess he's betrothed to, the daughter of his host, a situation his hosting king is not happy with. So, Vali is packed off on a journey to prove his manhood; only to ensure his strength, he involves himself in a ritual.
Unbeknownst to Vali, the ritual opens him up to the machinations of the Witch Queen – the hideous child to whom his "father" had gone.
The Witch Queen is a chilling creation. Lachlan has gone to great lengths to ensure the reader understands how she managed to become the wizened, yet compelling, creature she is. For although her actions seem monstrous, the Witch Queen is in fact merely a child; sold by her family to the witches and molded into a vehicle for magic.
The gods of the Norsemen – Odin in particular – play a great part in Wolfsangel; and although the characters firmly believe in them, readers need not suspend disbelief completely. By setting the book in this period, Lachlan allows for historical veracity. Wolfsangel can be read as a historical novel, or as part of the fantasy or horror genres.
Each "magical" act is somehow explained, even if only by inference, as a natural occurrence. The visions the characters experience can be explained away by deprivation or drug use. In fact, once the "magic" is removed one realises just how desperate were the lives of early humans.
Of course they believed in gods and magic, they didn't really have a choice, they had to believe in something that would explain the deaths, pain and horror of their daily lives.
On his trek to prove himself Vali comes across a "wolf man", one of the wild humans, and manages to capture it. Dragging it back to the settlement, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a raid and attempts to save his love and his friends.
But Vali's farm girl is taken and he finds himself forced to take action, setting out to find her.
In the final third of Wolfsangel, Lachlan brings together all the various storylines, twisting them together to make a somewhat Celtic knot of cause and effect, loyalty and betrayal, nobility and dishonour. The denouement is both sad and inevitable.
Life, as it really is, whether or not you have magic or believe in the gods, really is "nasty, brutish and short". Despite the vain attempts of kings and witches, fate can rarely be changed.

Wolfsangel by MD Lachlan is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

classic high fantasy from kevin j anderson's the map of all things, book 2 in the terra incognita series

Kevin J Anderson returns to the world of Terra Incognita with the second book in the series, The Map of All Things. Like his book, The Edge of the World, this is classic fantasy – a created world with warring kingdoms, opposed religions, heroes and heroines, more characters than you can poke a stick at, ancient foundation myths and even sea monsters.

The empires of Tierra and Uraba are polar opposites – the were originally descended from two brothers, sons of a god-like character, but now they are at war as each nation attempts to prove that their brother is the better of the two.
In the first book you have the set-up, you are introduced to both sides equally with neither being painted good or evil, each empire has redeeming features and each has it's atrocities. Things come to a head, however, as the one central place of worship – a small strip of land that separates the two continents – is destroyed, mostly by accident, but with each side blaming the other.
So, it is war. As the violence escalates readers see, again, that neither side is all good, nor all bad, and the sheer futility of their behaviour becomes more and more apparent in The Map of All Things.
The parallelles with our own world – Israel anyone? – are so obvious that one feels as though Anderson is hitting you in the face with his massive tome. 

Even the culture and weather match up – Tierrans are white northerners (Christian Europeans), while the Urabans are swarthy southerners (Muslim Middle Easterners). 

Yes, yes, we get it. Religious wars are stupid.
Unfortunately, as in the real world, so in fantasy. Neither side appears at all interested in ending the bloodshed. Sometimes for political reason – they fear the toppling of their power – sometimes for personal reasons – the death of a beloved – and so, the war slogs on.
There is one race, however, that is removed from total involvement in the religious war. The Saedran people believe themselves to be descendants of the original god, Ondun, and so are not caught up in the war between the Tierran Aidenists – followers of Aiden – and the Uraban Urecari – followers of Urec.
The Saedrans are the map-makers, chartists, scientists and doctors of Anderson's world, and it is they who are behind the attempt to create the 'map of all things' of the book's title.
As the war drags on, the leaders of each empire decide, independently, to send out voyages of discovery in search of their original homeland, Tierravitae.
Each group has a supposed 'map' to this mythical place and the belief that if they get there first, they'll prove that their religion was the 'right' one and all others are false.
This is just a very simple outline of the plot. The Map of All Things is a finely crafted, high-detailed read; Anderson's world is beautifully imagined and his plots are intricate.
One cannot read The Map of All Things without first having read The Edge of the World, but it's well worth doing so. This is high fantasy for lovers of adventure and character-driven plots; well worth getting your teeth into.

The Map of All Things by Kevin J Anderson is published by Orbit Books and is available from good book stores and online.

ann aguirre's blue diablo brings new dimension to overcrowded urban fantasy genre

For lovers of urban fantasy, Ann Aguirre's Blue Diablo is the first in a new series – the Corine Solomon series – that looks set to bring a new dimension to the already overcrowded genre.

Unlike the usual type of urban fantasy there aren't any vampires or werewolves – thank goodness – but there is magic and mayhem a plenty, and a bit of love interest as well. But so far no raunchy sex, which is actually a good thing, considering it's everywhere else.
Corine Solomon is what's called a 'handler', when she touches objects a certain way she can read information about who had held it previously, what they were feeling or doing and the history of the thing they held.
Unfortunately, it's not an easy skill to have, and although she had previously used her talent to help people, she'd eventually burned out after a number of harrowing experiences with murders, rapists etc.
So, she's run away to Mexico to hide from her previous life and try to regain her sanity. Unfortunately, her peace is disrupted by her ex, a guy called Chance who has a talent for being unbelievably lucky. His mother has gone missing, and he needs Corine to help him find her.
Naturally there's plenty of sexual tension, but Corine doesn't jump into bed with him, she's more concerned about getting trapped in her old life, and with finding Chance's mother, whom she loves.
From the opening set-up, Aguirre just pushes the pace along, adding characters and back story in a jumble of new faces and histories, as well as setting up her world.
There are lots of references to traditional South American practices, voodoo, Native American magic and myth, as well as the usual round up of remote viewing, mediums, witches and possible devil or demon worshippers.
Wrapped up in the fantastic is a solid whodunit, with human trafficking, the Mafia, drug and gun running and a side attraction to a very helpful policeman.
All in all, Aguirre manages to mix her magic, mayhem and material into a nice read; the plot is twisted enough to be interesting without being confusing, the characters slowly develop and the action is well-written.
Touches of Mexicana in the food, drinks, language and culture, all add a nice difference to Blue Diablo, making it a solid first book in a series that looks set to do well; it's already won the PEARL Award , which bodes well.

Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

another urban fantasy with vampires and werewolves, this time set in australia; moon sworn by keri arthur

One of Australia's most prolific writers of urban fantasy, Keri Arthur has released another in her Riley Jenson Guardian series, Moon Sworn. 

Like the majority of books in this genre, the Guardian series has a feisty, supernatural, female protagonist; baddies who are also supernatural; a shadowy government organisation of some sort which allows said protagonist to literally get away with murder; and a bit of raunchy sex.
Ho hum, yet another urban fantasy that seems as though it's been cut from the same cloth as all the others out there. Which is such a shame as Arthur isn't a bad writer.
What the Riley Jensen series does have going for it is that unlike the majority of the other books and series in this genre, it's actually set in a country other than America. Arthur has based the books in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia, making the setting, at least, more interesting.
Riley, the said heroine, is a half vampire, half werewolf – yep, two for the price of one – who works for the Guardians, ie. The shadowy government organisation that keeps all the other supernaturals in check.
She's in love with a handsome, and powerful, vampire (of course) and he loves her and they're always interested in having a bit of raunchy sex … yawn.
Added interest – Riley has a brother who's gay, yay, something slightly different. But no, he's also in a loving relationship with another sexy vampire. Again, yawn.
So, the basic premise is fairly ordinary. Still, Moon Sworn isn't a bad read. This time around some of Riley's previous escapades come back to haunt her and she ends up stuck in the middle of outback Australia with bits missing from her memory and a sneaking suspicion that some thing's wrong. Of course.
Ideally you really need to have read the other eight books in the series to really know what's going on, and to understand why the guy who took her memory and dumped her in the outback did it.
Riley manages to find herself in the middle of a murder investigation, which helps her remember bits and pieces about who she is and how she got in the mess she's in. Eventually, she works it all out, is reunited with the love of her life and sorts out some family business fairly thoroughly.
And that's about it. If Arthur put her mind to it, she could easily be a very good author. Her books aren't bad, it's just that there are so many of the same genre over-stocking the bookshelves at the moment. It's as though every author in the world decided to jump on the Twilight bandwagon at exactly the same time.
Unfortunately for authors like Arthur, there's much better stuff out there already, and has been for some time. Classic Anne Rice and the long-running series from Laurell K Hamilton, Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, as well as Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels.
But, if you love the genre – and like many, I still do – you'll enjoy the differences in Arthur's books that make them worth picking up. After all, it could be worse, you could be reading the Twilight series.

Moon Sworn by Keri Arthur is published by Piatkus, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group and is available from good book stores and online.

halfway to the grave by jeaniene frost is another vampire urban fantasy romance but it's not too bad

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost is another step in Gollancz' push to be the home of all urban fantasy romance, and the first in Frost's Night Huntress series.

Yet again, readers, we have a feisty female character with a touch of the supernatural – this time she's half vampire – and a bad boy vampire who's really got a heart of, well, you know the story.
Which is such a shame really, because Frost isn't a bad writer and the plot is a bit more punchy than the usual run of guff that's overflowing the bookshelves at the moment.
Still, urban fantasy romance obviously sells – yes, yes, we all have that nasty Twilight stuff to thank for this, despite the fact that the real genre is so much better; Laurell K Hamilton, Charlaine Harris and Anne Rice for example – so Gollancz keeps publishing it.
And I shouldn't really complain as I love the genre as much as the next person, but there's good stuff, great stuff and very little that will become classic stuff.
Frost is, at least, good. Catherine 'Cat' Crawfield is a girl with a major chip on her shoulder. Her father was a vampire, her mother was raped as a teen and has been damaged beyond repair by a judgemental town, repressed parents and a fear that he'll return.
But at least she loves her daughter, although she's taught Cat to hate half of herself and expects her to go out and murder people, sorry vampires, when she's not studying to get into college.
Cat's been lucky so far, she's managed to kill off a number of vamps without anything too bad happening to her, but all that is about to change. Instead of picking up the usual blood-hungry, horny vampire at the local bar – as a prelude to stabbing him with a stake – Cat gets another hunter.
Oh, he's a vampire alright, but he's also a vampire hunter. So, Cat's caught in a bind; should she learn from him or keep trying to kill him? Needless to say, said vampire is hot and Cat's trying not to be interested, after all, ALL vampires are evil, right?
Frost manages not to make Halfway to the Grave too teenage-angst, but again it's essentially a romance with some fangs, stakings and learning how to fight. But the plot has a twist and additions like people-smuggling and a shadowy government organisation add spice to the storyline.
If you like the genre, and let's face it, who doesn't at the moment, Halfway to the Grave is not a bad example, and like many of these books, it's the first in a series so you know you'll have something to read for a while yet.

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

unholy ghosts by stacia kane is fresh urban fantasy with a gritty, sideways feel

I loved, loved, loved this book. Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane is one of the few new urban fantasy novels I've read in a while. There's not a single vampire or werewolf to be seen and the characters are as conflicted, unfulfilled and damaged as any normal person.

Well, perhaps not exactly 'normal', but they're certainly not the 'holier-than-thou', angst-ridden teens or hormonally challenged desperately single women to be found in most of this genre's current crop of new authors.
In Kane's world, ghosts are real; and they're not very friendly. In fact, they're downright nasty. A couple of decades previously the dead had risen and only one organisation – the Church of the Real Truth – had managed to keep society together. Now America is a land where everyone knows what happens after you're dead, you turn into a spirit and go to the underworld, which isn't Hell and Jesus can't save you.
Instead you get people like Chess Putnam; she's a witch and she works for the Church. Yep, a complete reversal.
Since ghosts are real and can cause real damage, the Church will pay you a lot of money if a true haunting can be proven to have happened. It's Chess' job to sort the real from the fake and then banish the real ghost back to where they belong.
So far, so urban fantasy. But what makes Unholy Ghosts more interesting is that Chess isn't some boring, sweet, lovelorn sexy girl; she's a tattooed rocker with a taste for gangsters and a massive debt to her dealer hanging over her head.
Bump, the local gang leader, needs Chess to sort out a haunting of sorts. Work out if it's ghosts or the opposition, and Chess will clear her debt and be kept happy, so to speak.
Unfortunately Chess doesn't have a choice but to help out – she hasn't got the cash and the Church doesn't know about her personal vice. Before she knows it, Chess is caught up in nasty blood rituals, gang rivalries and an dangerous attraction to two, opposing gangsters.
Unholy Ghosts is the first in Kane's The Downside Ghosts series, which is great. I can't wait to read more of this gritty, sideways world that she's created. The character of Chess is reminiscent of Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, in that she's more 'real' than the usual fantasy female.
Chess isn't perfect, she carries her own demons, she's attracted to the wrong men and she's not averse to bending the rules – all things that make her a much more interesting character to read about.
Another of my favourite authors – also a pioneer in this genre like Hamilton – Charlaine Harris, has a quote on Kane's book: 'Gripping... Vivid characters and wonderful sense of pace'. And it's true.
Chess spins from one disaster to another, barely managing to keep it together, but somehow not giving up, nor becoming irritating. She's strong without being unapproachable and yet, still human in her reactions to the people around her.
Kane is a genuine find in the over-populated urban fantasy genre – she can only get better on presumes; thankfully there are more books written and more to come.

Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane is published by Harper Voyager and is available from good books stores and online.

nalani singh's slave to sensation and visions of heat from her psy-changeling series offer romantic urban fiction with a little bit of bite

Slave to Sensation and Visions of Heat are the first two books in Nalani Singh's 'Psy-Changling' series of books – of which there were seven at last count.

Singh – who was born in Fiji and brought up in New Zealand – is one of Gollancz' latest stars. Her first two books in the new Guild Hunter series, Angels' Blood and Archangel's Kiss, were the first of her novels I read and reviewed; and I liked them, quite a lot.
The Guild Hunter series rotates around Angels and vampires – yes, yes, more damn vampires – but at least the addition of Angels who act like humans ie. Fight among themselves, fall in love with humans and generally ignore most of the religious connotations of their literary history, are different enough to be interesting.
In the Psy-Changling series Singh has done a similar thing – take one established urban fantasy trope and add something new to the mix. So, we've got werepanthers, rather than werewolves, and the 'Psy' as the new idea.
The Psy are humans, kind of, who basically had 'psy' talents like telepathy, telekinesis, farseeing, foreseeing etc but who decided that all emotions should be done away with.
So, we've got terribly smart, organised, mentally powerful beings without any love, lust, hatred or joy. Basically human-shaped machines who love making money.
The Changelings are the opposite – humans in touch with their animal natures – so lots of love, lust, anger and joy.
Naturally the stories – in both books – focus on a cold-hearted Psy running into a hot-blooded Changeling and opposites attracting.
In Slave to Sensation, Sascha Duncan is a Psy who thinks she's losing her mind; she keeps 'feeling' things that she shouldn't, like emotions. Her Changeling is Lucas Hunter, a local property developer who's a werepanther and amazingly attracted to Sascha's cold demeanour. Of course, she's beautiful and he's hot, so what do you expect is going to happen?
Like many of the current crop of Gollancz urban fantasies, Singh's books are basically romance novels wrapped in a pretty fiction of the supernatural – there are any number of successful authors and publishers out there who are milking this 'Twilight' trend for all it's worth, after all.
Thankfully, Singh can actually write (unlike others, particularly the aforementioned Twilight author) and her plots include a bit more than soulful gazing/boy-meets-girl/'yes, dear, I'm a vampire/werewolf/angel' motif we've come to expect.
While Sascha and Lucas sniff around each other, something nasty is going on in the Changeling world – another young woman has gone missing. She's the latest in a long series of missing Changelings who turn up dead and mutilated. Lucas, as pride leader, has been tracing the murders around America and thinks Sascha's group of Psy might be involved.
So, at least this series has a bit of action to differentiate it from the usual run-of-the-mill stuff out there. Yes, the romance blossoms and Sascha realises that there's nothing wrong with her, she's actually some kind of super Psy throwback, who's talent has been suppressed by her people, and Lucas manages to discover the murder, before they settle down happily ever after.
Visions of Heat continues the storyline, including the characters of the first book, but focusing on a new male Changeling in need of a 'mate'. Oh yeah, the animal clichés are fairly strong.
This time it's Vaughan D'Angelo, who is actually a werejaguar instead of a panther, in need of romance and his Psy is the hyper-sensitive Faith NightStar, a valuable commodity with the ability to see the future.
Like the first book, Visions of Heat carries on the underlying plot of madness in the Psy culture, with Faith being dogged by dark dreams of murder and torture as another Psy mind manages to latch on to hers.
Naturally enough, Vaughan's animal nature is able to protect her from the dreams, and with Sascha and Lucas, he fights to save Faith from being dragged into madness, while at the same time falling in love, of course.
These books aren't high literature but they are fun reads. The twists to the typical urban fantasy fodder make Singh's books much more palatable than much of the pap that's being published these days.
Personally I prefer her Guild Hunter series, it's more urban and grittier, with less traditional romance and more blood, guts and politics. But for readers who enjoy a good love story with feisty women, strong men and true love, then Slave to Sensation and Visions of Heat are great reads. What's more, there are five more books in the series, so your holiday reading is sorted.

Slave to Sensation and Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh are published by Gollancz and are available from good book stores and online.

better than the tv show: the latest sookie stackhouse vampire novel, dead in the family by charlaine harris

Yes, lovers of vampires and werewolves, and especially lovers of Sookie Stackhouse, her various vampy and hairy boyfriends, her fairy great grandfather and her brother Jason, the non-shirt wearing hottie, Charlaine Harris is back.

 Dead in the Family is the tenth Sookie Stackhouse 'Southern Vampire Mysteries' series – although just about everyone will know them better as the 'True Blood' books from the extremely popular HBO series of the same name.
For those who haven't read the books, and have only seen the couple of seasons on HBO in Singapore; don't read on, this is full of spoilers as the books are up to number 10, while the TV show has barely even started.
For fans who started with the books, and not the TV show, Dead in the Family is fantastic; the characters continue to develop, the plots twist back over the whole series and Sookie is still stuck in her weird love/hate relationship with Eric.
Yes, Eric. I know, I know; if you've only watched the HBO series, you'll still think she's got a thing for Bill the Vampire; or, if you've seen the beginning of the latest season in the US, then you'll be wondering about the werewolf Alcide.
Sorry; Dead in the Family is way past all those relationships. Not only has Sookie moved on, so has her brother Jason, Bill (kind of) and Sam the shapechanger. There are also impossibly beauty Faeries as distant relatives – which kind of explains why so many women want to sleep with Jason and why the vampires adore the taste of Sookie – as well as all sorts of other supernatural creatures.
Sookie is still recovering from her injuries from the 'Faery War' that occurred in the previous book, Dead and Gone, as well as the deaths of a number of people she loved.
On top of all this; Bill is fading away having been damaged by silver and now Eric's maker (his real maker not the fake one in the TV show) has turned up with a rather insane child vamp who may, or may not be a member of royalty.
As usual, Harris manages to keep all the various plots in place, make her supernatuals seem as understandable as her humans and adds a nice bit of love, romance and sex to spice it up. There is also the prerequisite blood and violence; but not at the expense of a good story.
I started with the books years ago, and while I find the HBO show fun to watch, there's no way it can encompass the nuances of Harris' text; the humour and the psychology of both humans and supernatural creatures.
So, if you've only seen the TV show; make the effort to get hold of all ten books, I promise you won't be dissapointed.

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online