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.

genetic manipulation & corporate greed gone awry ... again

Yet another in the burgeoning genre of genetic manipulation and corporate greed gone awry, The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Maberry isn’t the worst of the lot, but it’s certainly not the best either.

The Dragon Factory has the obligatory mad scientists – this lot appear to be leftovers from Nazi times – with designs on world domination and creating the “perfect” human being.
There are also “speak softly and carry a big stick” type government agents – this time it’s an ex-cop special ops shooter called Joe Ledger, an ongoing character for Maberry – and some shifty government types who are probably playing both sides.
The dragon factory of the title is a lab that manipulates animal genetics to create fictional creatures so rich, nasty people can hunt them or rich, manipulative people can use them to create cults to take over countries.
Ho hum. The whole plot of The Dragon Factory reads like a B-Grade film that went straight to DVD and stared actors who were in the first few minutes of a slasher movie as their only claim to fame.

But the book isn't pretending to be literature in any way, shape or form – just check out it's schlock-horror cover picture – so enjoy it for what it is.
Still, the plotting is tight, there are a few twists, the action scenes are relatively well-written and the baddies get their comeuppance. The Dragon Factory is another good airport read or a Christmas present for the non-reading man in your life. 

The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Maberry is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

an uncannily prescient look at the future of war

Hailed by genre critics and those of the more traditional literary sort, Adam Roberts’ New Model Army is a fascinating read about a world that’s not really that far away.

Although this is technically science fiction, the premise of Roberts’ story – that a mercenary army can be run without a hierarcy of officers via the internet – is an almost realised prediction in the modern age of terrorist cells created from web pages, weapons sourced via Facebook and untraceable communications via throwaway mobile phones and iPhone texting apps.
New Model Army traces the experiences of one member of Pantegral, a “new model” army made up of disparate groups who communicate via the web, only occasionally meeting up with other soldiers in the “real” world to physically fight.
Set in the UK, the story also echoes the rise of corporate mercenary teams like those that appear to be running the US war in Iraq; members of the new army are mostly ex-traditional army soldiers either AWOL or cashiered out for disciplinary reasons. They all have guerilla warfare training that they put to good use.
While the country’s government attempts to react to an enemy that won’t stay in one place, is better equipped – if soldiers are supplying themselves they buy the best they can afford – Pantegral marches on London at the behest of their client, Scotland.
Pantegral is run via consensus, every soldier has a vote on deciding which way the fight will go, right down to whether or not to take prisoners, what to do with them and details of negotiations with the opposition; all via the internet.
As the story continues the central character – who is never really identified – muses on the origin of the New Model Army, the vicissitudes of war and the eventual outcome of a world run via a community versus top-down or “feudal” government structures as it is now.
However what the soldiers don’t realise, but some traditional military boffins do, is that Pantegral – and similar organisations around the world – are becoming aware.
The complex net of communication, ideas, even emotions create an almost organic “mentality” that slowly becomes an identity. As the blurb on the book says: “His is called Pantegral. And he is you and me.”
Roberts’ format – writing purely from a first person perspective and with little to no indication of time – can be somewhat hard to get into at first. If you’re looking for a traditional shoot ‘em up, New Model Army is not for you.
If, however, you are either fascinated by the constant change of modern technology and concerned by how this will affect our societies, then New Model Army is a must read. It is uncannily prescient in so many ways.
After all, a full-blown war run by web-savvy youth may be only a small step from the current world of global online gaming.

New Model Army by Adam Roberts is published by Gollancz 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

final instalment in brandon sanderson's the mistborn trilogy; the hero of ages

Brandon Sanderson's The Mistborn trilogy comes to an end in The Hero of Ages, as the true hero is revealed and the cryptic words of the Lord Ruler are finally explained.

Sanderson's first two books in this series – The Final Empire and The Well of Ascension – built the backbone of the plot. A world overcome by volcanic ash, a serfdom of Highborn and Skaa and an immortal ruler coming together in violence, rebellion and myth.
Centred on the street girl Vin, her inborn 'mistborn' powers – an ability to use various metals to become faster, stronger and smarter than the average person – leading to her becoming first involved in rebellion and later to kill the undying Lord Ruler.
Despite killing off the supposed source of all their woes, Vin, her Skaa companions and her Highborn husband, new emperor Elend Venture, discover that by killing a god and releasing the power of the Well of Ascension, they may just have made things worse.
Finally, the story focuses on what exactly caused the Mists that have taken over the world, blocking the sun, killing the plants and causing illness to exactly 16 per cent of the population. The group realise they have to discover why the Lord Ruler hid caches of food, water and tools across the country and what they have to do to save their world.
Cleverly Sanderson has created a world that is not to dissimilar from ours so that readers can easily identify with the protagonists, but it's different enough to be interesting. The plot twists right to the end of The Hero of Ages – there's a surprising denouement right at the end that one doesn't see coming at all.
Sanderson is clearly an author on the way up. After Robert Jordan's death in 2007, Sanderson was chosen to complete the final book in Jordan's epic The Wheel of Time series based on just the first in The Mistborn trilogy, The Final Empire. He has already released The Gathering Storm – the first in the three-part culmination of Jordan's series – to thunderous applause from both fans and critics including Jordan's widow, Harriet McDougal.
In The Hero of Ages, Sanderson shows exactly why he was chosen for such an important task in the world of fantasy fiction. His characters are well-developed, his plotting is fantastic and his imagination runs wild yet is still accessible. In fact, the book has been shortlisted for the David Gemmell Award.
However the pace of his books needs to pick up a little. All three of The Mistborn books suffered from slow starts, a little too much detail – The Hero of Ages alone is 748 pages – and a tendency towards too much pontificating.
But despite this drawback, Sanderson's works are classic fantasy fiction and enjoyable reading. He's an author to watch.

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson is published by Gollancz, which is owned by Orion Books and is available from good book stores and online.

a new theme in urban fantasy; non-religious angels and archangels from nalini singh

Hard on the heels of Lyndsay Sands' Argeneau vampire novels comes a new series from New Zealander Nalini Singh from the same publisher and with the same overall marketing concept – supernatural romance.

Luckily in Singh's books, the vampires have been replaced by angels and archangels. Oh, there are vampires as well, and vampire hunters – who work for the angels because in this world vampires are actually made by angels.

How the angels got to be involved in our everyday world and where they originally came from and whether or not they have any relation to god, is never explained. One simply accepts that in Singh's world, the angels make vampires, the vamps work for the angels and the archangels run everything.
So, once you're over that bit of illogic, the story unfolds from the perspective of a Guild Hunter, Elena Deveraux.
Elena is a 'born Hunter', which means that she's a bit stronger, a bit faster and has an uncanny ability to track vampires by scent alone. She's beautiful (of course), tough and oh-so-slightly emotionally damaged. Just how damaged becomes more and more apparent as her adventure unfolds.
Being one of the best at what she does, Elena ends up with a contract to hunt down a being for the Archangel of New York, Raphael. Yep, some of the names are reminiscent of real life.
Raphael (of course) is heart-thumpingly handsome, aloof, awe-inspiring – he's got golden-tipped wings after all – and dangerous. He once broke every bone in a vampire's body and left him in the middle of the city for days; the vampire was still alive.
So, Elena naturally finds herself attracted to Raphael, but she's damn sure she's not going to give in and become Raphael's lover and human pet. At least, that's what she keeps telling herself.
As for the job she's been hired to do, Elena discovers that it's not a normal vampire hunt, this one is far more dangerous and secretive – if any of her friends or family find out who she's actually hunting, Raphael will kill them.
Angel's Blood introduces Singh's new fantasy world with detail, action, emotional turbulence and romance. These are urban fantasy romance novels after all. However, unlike Lyndsay Sands' series, these books have a lot more action... dare I say, a lot more bite.
Raphael is not some "ordinary bloke wrapped in a fantasy skin", he is a contradiction of awesomely powerful being, vulnerable man and inscrutable ruler. He is ruthless and he is violent, but he is immensely loyal and has an enormous capacity to love – even if that love is so powerful as to smother those who receive it.
Elena is tough, independent, resourceful and desperate to hang on to not only her humanity, but also the terrible things in her past that have made her who she is. Like Raphael, she is a mix of good and bad, full of contradictions, but these are the qualities that make Singh's characters more complex and more interesting for the reader.
Unlike Sands' stories, Angel's Blood and Archangel's Kiss are not single-book stories, nor are they all wrapped up happily ever after plot endings. Singh's books are much more of the traditional fantasy format, with each book adding to the story. The books are also much more interesting in general.
I love a good vampire story as much as the next fantasy reader, but even I have become a little bored with the ubiquitous nature of vampires in popular culture. Angels as non-religious, non-pious beings who have sex, scheme, manipulate and fall in love are new.
Thankfully Singh has a great turn of phrase as well; she is a good writer. The recurring theme of Elena's nightmares and how it's written, for example, adds a sense of tension across the plot lines of both books, with an eventual denouement in Archangel's Kiss. A tightness of prose that is missing in many of this genre's newest authors.
So, if you're looking for something new in the genre of urban fantasy, give Singh's series a go. You won't be bored, and you may even find yourself a new favourite author.

Angel's Blood and Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh are published by Gollancz and are available from good book stores and online.

Read my review of Lyndsay Sands' latest novel: Clichés abound in Lyndsay Sands' latest Argeneau novel

carrie ryan's the dead tossed waves is as good as the forest of hands and teeth; zombie genre with emotions & love

Finally I'm getting around to writing up a review for one of my favourite new authors. America's Carrie Ryan burst onto the fantasy scene with The Forest of Hands and Teeth in 2009; it was a zombie novel for girls.

What separates Ryan's work from the usual genre is her ability to not only add romance to a zombie novel, but to also give the reader emotional insight into what it would actually feel like to see your loved ones return as something less than an animal.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth was a great book; it received a heap of praise from fans and critics alike so I was excited to read the “companion book” to see if Ryan would live up to expectations.
And she has. The Dead Tossed Waves continues years after Mary has found sanctuary of a sort in a seaside town, fenced off from both the zombies and the forest where they roam. This time the action centres on Mary's daughter Gabry who is about 15 years old and just becoming interested in boys – one boy in particular.
As often happens with teens, the boy and his friends convince Gabry to do something she really knows she shouldn't, and the consequences of this one act direct the path of the plot.
This is Ryan's true skill; she takes a common, everyday occurrence like teens doing something they shouldn't, blends it with moral quandaries and coming-of-age motifs and then adds zombies.
Obviously the zombies can represent just about any modern day ill – drugs, teenage pregnancy, crime – but the addition of a fantasy trope means the Young Adult readers this is aimed at won't take too much umbrage.
Gabry proves herself to be resourceful, strong and weak by turns, petty and generous, smart and stupid – just like any teenage girl. She discovers things about her past that rock her world, yet she manages to both understand her mother as a person and woman, while realising that Mary did the best she could.
Ryan's prose leads the reader into noticing the little things, people's mannerisms that give away their inner thoughts, the way the sea appears to a girl locked in a society of rigid rules and how easy it is to fall in love.
The Dead Tossed Waves is beautifully written and shows that while fantasy and genre fiction may not be nominated for a Booker Prize, it can be good literature.

The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan is published by Gollancz and is available from good book stores and online.

steph swainston returns to her world of the immortal circle with above the snowline featuring jant shira

Steph Swainston is probably best-known for her series of fantasy novels about the Fourlands – The Year of Our War, No Present Like Time an The Modern World – where an immortal emperor surrounds himself with the best of the best talents and makes them immortal too. One of the central characters of these books is Jant Shira – the fastest man in the world, part of the immortal Circle and a mixed-blood. Jant is half Rhydanne – the elusive people of the mountains – and half Awian – the most population race who though they have wings, can't fly.
Swainston's latest book, Above the Snowline, follows Jant – immortal but still very cocksure – as he heads back to his birthplace, much to his disgust, in the company of a Rhydanne huntress who's complained to the emperor about Awian incursions into her mountains.
The Rhydanne life is a harsh one; they live above the snowline on mountains so high that there's hardly any air to breathe. Their bodies have adapted over the millennia; turning them into efficient hunting and fighting machines, making them immune to cold, super fast and amazingly hardy. The Awians, naturally, abhor them. Calling the Rhydanne primitive animals. It's obvious that someone needs to intervene in what could become a war.
Cue Jant – the youngest of the immortals he's only 75 years old, and he retains much of his humanity. Jant is a wastrel and a drunk, a womaniser and a bit of cheat. He's also pompous, arrogant and often rude. Still, he's immortal, rakishly handsome and can fly; which makes up for just about everything else.
When Shira Dellin, the Rhydanne huntress turns up in the emperor's city and demands he do something about the Awians, Jant is sent off to deal with the situation.
Along the way, he discovers that memories of his abusive childhood have coloured his actions and beliefs, making him deny much of his Rhydanne heritage. But being in the mountains again, sees Jant slowly realise that he is as much Rhydanne as he is Awian and without either, he'd be less than nothing.
There's a touch of romance in Jant's relationship with Dellin; but it is as much about letting things go, as it is about holding on.
Swainston's world is peopled by creatures who are only a little different from ourselves. It is easy to read the feelings and emotions of any person of mixed-blood in Jant, just as it is to see references to our dying, "primitive" cultures in the Rhydanne.
In fact Swainston has written a piece for Sci Fi Now magazine, called Once Were Hunters, about how she was brought up hunting, rebelled against it and then used the experience in writing Above the Snowline.
The writer's ability to make her characters real to her readers is what makes her books so popular. Swainston's story is familiar, yet different enough to keep us interested. Her descriptions, dialogue and plot are tight and the action keeps moving.
You don't have to have read any of Swainston's previous books – much of the background is given in Above the Snowline – and this one is more a prequel than a an addition to the previous books. Above the Snowline will merely whet your appetite for more stories of Jant, the emperor and his immortal Circle.

Above the Snowline by Steph Swainston is published by Gollancz and is available at good book stores and online.

kitty the werewolf (yes, that's her name) ends up in a house of horrors, urban fantasy from author carrie vaughn

Yep, Kitty Norville the werewolf returns. I know, I know, a werewolf called Kitty is more than slightly ironic. Still, for all the millions of 'urban fantasy' titles out there, Carrie Vaughn's radio DJ Kitty is one of the more interesting ones.

In Vaughn's alternate reality, the werewolves, vampires, psychics and witches stick pretty much to type. The werewolves are made by being bitten, as are the vamps, the psychics are humans with extra senses and the witches and sorcerers study for years to gain their powers.
In Kitty's House of Horrors, Vaughn cleverly riffs on the whole reality TV phenomenon, sending Kitty the werewolf into a “group house” with a couple of vampires, two psychics and some other were-animals. Oh, and there's a sceptic as well for good measure.
While they all try to suss each other out, and try to convince the sceptic that they really are vampires, werewolves etc, the production team – headed up by a caricature of the typical slimy entertainment type – film them all. The producers are hoping, of course, that they can get a transformation on tape or a vampire sucking blood, or something else equally sensational.
Everything seems fine... but then people start to go missing.
From there on, Kitty's House of Horrors is relatively formulaic. A few characters die, a few more show their true colours and everyone gets their comeuppance in the end.
Vaughn's books aren't the worst versions of generic urban fantasy being published – I'd nominate the Twilight series for the top of that list – but it's not mind-blowingly good either. It's scope is relatively small.
While Kitty's “ordinariness” is meant to make readers identify with her and her problems, it also, unfortunately, takes away much of the glamour that leads people to read urban fiction.
We don't want a perfectly adjusted werewolf, we want one that either revels or hates their situation; we don't want a werewolf that's happily married, we want one that has to hide their secret from their lover, or something like that.
Compared to the mistress of the genre, Laurell K Hamilton, these books are a little bland. Still, if you love the genre alone, then Vaughn's books are a good read. If you enjoy reading about the world through the eyes of someone like you, who's just a little different, then Kitty is your girl.


Kitty's House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn is published by Gollancz and is available from all good book stores and online.