My favourites from 2012:
Picks from 2012
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Category Archives: Reviews
Review: The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books, 2011)
Waxilium Ladrian is a frontier lawman with the Allomantic ability to mentally Push metal (a “coinshot” in the original Mistborn trilogy terminology). He’s also a good man with a gun.
Wax moves into the city of Elendel to manage his late uncle’s estate. It’s a struggle to reinvent himself to be acceptable in social circles … and to attract a wealthy bride to restore his house’s fortunes.
But his friend and former sidekick, Wayne, won’t let him forget his law-enforcement days. There’s a new gang of thieves at work and the local police are out of their league. Wax and Wayne 🙂 are a fun team to watch at work.
If you haven’t read the earlier Mistborn books, you can jump right in here. Much has changed since that trilogy, and anything needed is explained. Those who familiar with the first series will recognize little nods and tributes here and there.
The Alloy of Law takes place 300 years after the events of the original Mistborn series. In the acknowledgements section, the author says he plans to write two more epic trilogies on this planet, Scadrial: one urban and one futuristic, to show how the culture changes over time.
This novel, though, isn’t part of that. It’s shorter, and has a wild west / frontier town feel. It may be my favourite Brandon Sanderson book yet, possibly because it’s a bit faster-paced and still has his trademark threads of humour.
He doesn’t say anything about it being more than a stand-alone title, but the ending sets up enough problems for Wax and Wayne that I certainly hope there’ll be a sequel.
Visit the official Brandon Sanderson website for more about the author and his books, or see The Alloy of Law page for more about this story.
[Review copy borrowed from my son’s bookcase.]
Review: Daughter of Light, by Morgan L. Busse
Daughter of Light, by Morgan L. Busse (Marcher Lord Press, 2012)
Rowen Mar has always felt like an outsider, and when she develops a mysterious white mark on her palm—and unleashes a frightening power—she’s truly alone. Can she make a new life as bodyguard to Lady Astrea in the White City, or will her secret come out? And does she have a part to play in the war that threatens her new home?
Caleb Tala is an unstoppable assassin whose victims haunt his dreams. Nierne is a young scribe thrust from her secure monastery and charged with a dangerous journey.
With supernatural power, secrets, danger and death, Daughter of Light follows Rowen, Caleb, Nierne and their associates in a lavish-scaled fantasy that is only the beginning of the real battle.
In this book, the armies are human. But just as Rowen discovers herself to be one of the Eldaran, an angelic-type race thought long dead, another forgotten race still lives: the Shadonae. And while the Eldaran serve the Word (God of the story’s world) the Shadonae oppose Him and want to destroy all humans.
The story drew me in, the world-building is detailed, and I liked Rowen, Nierne and their friends. The Word is a clear representation of Jesus, and those who follow Him are realistic in their struggles. There are a few instances of Divine interaction in the plot, and they’re neither gratuitous nor taking over the characters. They’re the logical result of having a God who cares about His people but who gives them free will, and I found they encouraged my faith.
I would like to have seen Nierne’s plot thread taken one more step at the end, but I’ll have to wait for book 2. And there must be a book 2; the Shadonae are rising. Marcher Lord Press doesn’t release a list of new titles too far in advance of publication but that doesn’t mean a sequel isn’t in the works.
You can learn more about author Morgan L. Busse and Daughter of Light at her website, In Darkness there is Light.
[Review copy from my personal library. Amazon links are affiliate links for The Word Guild.]
Related articles
- Guest Blog: Why I write Christian Speculative Fiction (newauthors.wordpress.com)
- Review: ‘Daughter of Light’ by Morgan L. Busse (USA Today Books)
- Review: ‘Daughter of Light’ by Morgan Busse (Finding… Kat Heckenbach)
- Goodreads Community Reviews of ‘Daughter of Light’ (Goodreads)
Merry Christmas
It’s Christmas Eve…
Thank you to everyone who subscribes to these posts or who comes here to read them. I pray for each of you the gift of joy and wonder at Christmas and into the new year.
Instead of a new review today, I’ll point you to a previously-posted one.
Seeker of Stars is a novella about Melchior, one of the three Wise Men. It’s my favourite Christmas read, and it’s now available on Kindle at Amazon.ca and Amazon.com. [These links are affiliate links supporting The Word Guild.]
Here’s the link to my review of Seeker of Stars.
Review: A Star Curiously Singing, by Kerry Nietz
A Star Curiously Singing, by Kerry Nietz (Marcher Lord Press, 2009)
In a dystopian future of Earth with advanced technology and a repressive global regime, to be a tech geek is to be a slave. Anyone (usually male) chosen for this role at age 10 is implanted with a chip that allows him to wirelessly connect to machines, computers and serv-bots—to “stream” to them—and to perform necessary repairs.
These people are called debuggers, and Sandfly is a good one. He does what his master orders, and rarely gets “tweaked” for disobedient or dangerous thoughts, although his wry observances of life under the masters—the Abduls (Servants)—skate pretty close to the edge at times.
Sandfly’s world is ruled by a form of Islam that’s all rules and no faith. Absolute power seems to have corrupted absolutely, and Sandfly wonders if there are any good masters left.
A top-secret assignment lands him on a space station (he’s afraid of heights) where he’s introduced to the prototype space ship, Dark Trench. Dark Trench is a technological marvel, but its crew can’t be cleared to go home until Sandfly finds out what caused their only bot to destroy itself part-way through the mission.
There’s a lot more to the story than that, but you need to read it yourself. Part of the fun is being dropped into this unusual world and figuring out what’s going on as you read Sandfly’s narration. He’ll call you “freehead” and occasionally explain details, but most of the time you’re just along for the ride, learning on the fly (if you’ll pardon the pun).
A Star Curiously Singing is a fast read, with twists, turns, humour, faith and danger. It’s a good story, and Sandfly really makes the novel for me. He’s an engaging character with a distinctive voice. I look forward to reading the other two books in the Dark Trench series: The Surperlative Stream and Freeheads.
A Star Curiously Singing won a Reader’s Favourite Gold Medal Award, and was a finalist on a few other awards lists. You can learn more about Kerry Nietz at his website, and read a sample of A Star Curiously Singing on the Marcher Lord Press site. And you can read an interview with Kerry Nietz, and a bit about his newest book, Freeheads, at A Christian Writer’s World. The draw is now over, and I won! Kerry very kindly substituted A Star Curiously Singing for Freeheads, rather than drop me into the series at the end.
Review: The God of All Comfort, by Hannah Whitall Smith
The God of All Comfort, by Hannah Whitall Smith (Whitaker House, 2003)
If God is indeed the God of all comfort; if He is our Shepherd; if He is truly our Father; if all the many aspects we have been studying of His character and His ways are true, then we must conclude that He is, in Himself alone, enough for all our possible needs. Therefore, we may safely rest in Him, absolutely and forever. (p. 284)
That’s an apt summary of the message of this book. Hannah Whitall Smith challenges readers to consider what the Bible says about God and His nature, and to compare that with what our inner responses reveal we actually believe. It’s not enough to have head knowledge that God is good, for example. We need to develop the heart knowledge that lets us base our lives and actions on the fact.
The version I’ve read has been “revised for clarity and readability” although it keeps the King James Scriptures. The next time I read it, I think I’ll look each one up in a newer translation as I go, for an even clearer grasp of what’s being said. And there are still some readability issues.
For example, Mrs. Smith refers to “comfortable faith,” meaning faith that’s not “uncomfortable” in the sense of distressing us because we have an unhealthy view of God as tyrant, weak or unloving. To my mind, “comfortable faith” implies laziness and stagnation.
I found much to bless, encourage and strengthen me in The God of All Comfort. Some things I didn’t quite accept, and I’m not sure if I didn’t understand them or if I take a different view.
According to the biography at the end of the book, Hannah Whitall Smith ended her days as a Universalist. In general, the teaching in The God of All Comfort meshed well with Scripture and drew me nearer to God, but with her change in mind I’m not too eager to adopt anything blindly (good advice at the best of times).
My copy of the book bristles with coloured flags marking key points. The best thing it did for me was challenge me to intentionally trust God as my Good Shepherd and to consciously rely on His Word.
According to the Wikipedia article on Hannah Whitall Smith, she lived from 1832-1911 in the US and England.
[Review copy from my personal library.]
Review: Worth its Weight in Old, by K.D. Hays
Worth its Weight in Old, by K.D. Hays (Spyglass Lane Mysteries, 2011)
Karen Maxwell’s career as a private investigator is just starting to take off. She hopes. Working for her brother’s investigative firm, she’s finally getting out of a clerical role and into the field. Her assignment: take an undercover job in an antique store and find out who’s been damaging the merchandise.
Her challenge: to do this while single-parenting a 9-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter, and while securing her boyfriend’s attention when he only seems to want to see her at play rehearsals for his church’s youth group. Oh, and she has to not kill the new guy her brother hired to help in the office.
I really enjoyed K.D. Hays’ writing style in this cozy mystery. The novel is funny and a fast read. It’s as much about the characters as about the mystery, which makes sense in a series book. Karen has still got some things in life to learn, and she’s gained a bit of perspective by the story’s end. I hope there’ll be a third book in the series, because I’d like to spend more time with these characters.
Worth its Weight in Old is book 2 in the Karen Maxwell Mystery series, and readers new to the series will have no trouble starting here. But you might want to start with book 1, George Washington Stepped Here. Otherwise, there will be spoilers.
K.D. Hays is a pen name used for contemporary mysteries and children’s stories. The author also publishes historical romances under her own name, Kate Dolan. Click to learn more about the Karen Maxwell books or to read sample chapters.
[Review copy from my personal library.]
Review: Spinneret, by Timothy Zahn
Spinneret, by Timothy Zahn (ebook version from Open Road Integrated Media, 2012)
In the year 2016, Earth’s first starship sets out on Project Homestead: a mission to find a planet to colonize. They soon discover a problem: the habitable planets are already taken!
The best the humans can do is to lease a planet nobody else wants due to its complete lack of metals. The cost and risk factors push what was to be a UN mission onto the Americans. The planet is dubbed Astra, and humans’ first colony begins.
When all metals – including a bulldozer – literally sink into the ground, the colony seems doomed. Until the planet proves to contain an ancient artifact worth more than anyone imagined.
Suddenly everyone wants it: the aliens and the UN. But US-appointed planetary leader Colonel Meredith and the people of Astra won’t give up their new home.
As well as learning to work with six diverse alien races and trying to fend off a UN takeover, the Astrans have to overcome internal differences. What began as a military-run effort faces the transition to civilian government and the threat of a coup from within.
This is a fun science fiction novel with Timothy Zahn’s trademark mastery of political and military tactics. Spinneret was printed in 1985 and released as an ebook in 2012. It’s still relevant conceptually and in terms of the issues it raises about immigration and international politics.
Naturally some of the “historical” events mentioned haven’t happened (like the 2011 Mexican Collapse). The characters still use cassettes, but they also have star drives (invented by Canadians, thank you very much). Still I doubt we’ll reach the projected date of space travel in 2016.
Spinneret is one of seven of Timothy Zahn’s hard-to-find novels released by Open Road Media in ebook format, and they’re all worth reading. My personal favourites on the list are Blackcollar and The Backlash Mission (Blackcollar #2). I really like the covers for these ebooks… some of the original paperback covers are very, well… eighties-ish.
My copy of Spinneret is an advance review copy, and there are a few typos that may have been corrected for the retail version. The font is a bit unusual and although attractive it can be hard to read on the smaller display settings. Lower-case letters with stems (like b, f, l, k) aren’t much taller than the shorter ones, which makes it easy to confuse f with r, i with l etc. Especially in a science fiction novel with unusual names, this can be a problem.
Still, to read these earlier books from a master in the genre, the ebooks are an easier choice than hunting the Internet for used copies of the paperbacks. (Thanks, AbeBooks, for helping me complete my collection a few years ago. I’ll be upgrading to ebooks over time.)
Hugo Award winning author Timothy Zahn writes in the Star Wars universe as well as in those of his own creation. You can find him on Facebook. His next scheduled release is the Star Wars novel, Scoundrels, releasing in early 2013.
[Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair review.]
Review: The Word Reclaimed, by Steve Rzasa
The Word Reclaimed, by Steve Rzasa (Marcher Lord Press, 2009)
It’s 2602 and humans have developed interstellar travel and colonized planets. Major power belongs to the Realm of Five, with dissenters living on the fringes as Expatriates. The other players in this universe are the Martians, and I’m not clear if they’re humans who lived on Mars and then rebelled or if they’re another race entirely. What they are is hostile.
The Realm of Five’s Royal Stability Force, aka “Kesek,” is a nasty secret-police-type enforcer of political correctness, including the Realm-wide ban on any religions other than the state-created generic one that won’t “threaten the human spirit”.
When their spaceship stops to salvage the remains of another ship, Baden Haczyk discovers highly dangerous contraband: a Bible. Print books are things of the past, and people read on wireless devices called delvers. Along with other holy books, Bibles were thought to have been destroyed.
Should he sell it on the black market? Give it to Kesek before they come after him?
He’ll decide when the ship reaches the next space station. First, he starts reading it.
While the main plot thread of Baden and the book (and his difficult relationship with his father) plays out, a secondary thread follows cadet Alex Verge and his family on earth and into space on a military mission.
Author Steve Rzasa weaves two seemingly-different stories set in the same universe to mesh into one satisfying conclusion that dangles enough questions to make me want to read the next book in the series, The Word Unleashed.
One thing I enjoy about futuristic novels is the authors’ extrapolation of technology, specifically space travel. Steve Rzasa has some intriguing ideas that add an extra layer of interest to the novel.
I felt a degree of information overload in places, as if the author were giving me more background details than I needed to know. He’s done a thorough job of world-building (would that be “universe-building”?) and I can definitely visualize this story as an epic space movie. It has everything: ships, chases, action, explosions, battles, exotic locales… as well as relationships, political machinations and a thought-provoking plot.
One thing I’ve noted in other Marcher Lord Press books is the meticulous editing, and I was surprised to see some copy-editing issues here. Nothing more than you’d see most places, except for the fact that Alex is Alec for a while when we first meet him, but still not what I expected.
You can read a sample of The Word Reclaimed online. The remaining books in the Face of the Deep series are The Word Unleashed and Broken Sight. You can read an interview with Steve Rzasa (pronounced “Ra-zah”) on the Marcher Lord Press site or visit his website, The Face of the Deep. His newest novel is Crosswind, in the steampunk genre, and it looks intriguing.
[Review copy from my personal library.]
Review: When Will the Dead Lady Sing? by Patricia Sprinkle
When Will the Dead Lady Sing? by Patricia Sprinkle (Signet, 2004)
MacLaren and Joe Riddley Yarbrough live in the small town of Hopemore, Georgia. She’s a county magistrate, and he had the job before her. They have married children and school-age grandchildren, so these aren’t your traditional 20-somethings.
They were childhood sweethearts, and the long relationship has developed some delightful banter between them. There’s also a secret between them, one MacLaren hoped would never surface: in university, she briefly dated someone else behind Joe Riddley’s back.
That man is now somewhat of a hero to Joe Riddley. What’s she to do when he turns up in town, complete with a political entourage and a live buffalo?
And when she finds a dead body who’s linked to the man, things get even worse. Mac has promised her husband she’ll stay out of investigating, but the local sheriff is short on sense. I assume that’s how she’s gotten involved in previous mysteries, too.
When Will the Dead Lady Sing? is book 7 in the Thoroughly Southern Mystery series, and the first one I’ve read. I plan to go back and start at the beginning. The author thoughtfully provides an opening list of the characters to help keep them straight.
This is a mainstream mystery with some Christian characters. In the story, MacLaren and Joe Riddley attend church, send a homeless man to a church-funded soup kitchen (and then regret that they didn’t help him more), and pray for their grandson when he gets in trouble. Nothing preachy or flashy, and everything serves a purpose in the plot.
The characters, Christian and non, are real, feeling people. Some are a bit eccentric, as you’d expect in a humour-tinged southern mystery. They fit with Patricia Sprinkle’s delightful voice (as spoken through first person narrator, Mac).
Patricia Sprinkle has published many mysteries, including the Thoroughly Southern Mysteries and the Family Tree Series, but somehow I hadn’t read any of her novels. When another mystery author, Jayne E. Self, interviewed her I enjoyed the interview and liked the humour in some of her titles. Her name sounded familiar, and a search turned up When Will the Dead Lady Sing, deep in my to-read stash. [Read the interview: Part 1 and Part 2]