Monday 31 December 2012

The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr - George R. R. Martin

RATING: FOUR STARS

I must confess that I've not read many short stories in my time, mainly because I prefer to invest in long novels that I can really sink my teeth into and presumed that this would not be possible in a shorter piece of work. However, my finances have been a bit strained lately and I've found myself looking more and more at some of the short stories written by my favourite authors - mainly, due to their cheaper price!

And so I was quite surprised when I downloaded The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr onto my Kindle and found that many of my assumptions about short stories were wrong! Written in the same gripping and masterfully vivid prose that I have come to expect from George R. R. Martin, The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr is a delightfully interesting short story about a mysterious woman who is able to walk between different worlds using special gateways.

As she passes through countless worlds, she is constantly searching for her lover, a young man who was taken from her by the powerfully evil Seven many years before. And so, it is on one of these worlds that the woman stumbles upon Laren Dorr - an exiled and rather lonely god who has long been prophesied to love her. The mysterious woman decides to stay with the god, at least until she's recovered from her many injuries, and learns that the god loves her - suspecting that he will try anything in his power in order to keep her there with him...

Final Thoughts
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr, finding that it was every bit as detailed as many other 'full-sized' novels that I've read. In fact, the short story painted a satisfyingly vivid picture of a perfectly beautiful, yet sad world that any fan of fantasy and science fiction will appreciate and enjoy - making it a perfect way to kill a spare hour!

Blue Truth - Michael Curtis Hilde

RATING: THREE STARS

When I first began reading Blue Truth, I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to enjoy the novel; mainly, due to the strangely disjointed and quirky style with which Michael Curtis Hilde writes.

Hilde's strange narration soon grew on me however, and I quickly found myself completely immersed in the colourful and highly developed world that he has created; blitzing through Hilde's story in which mankind is suffering now that it has begun to separate itself from nature and is beginning its domination of the surrounding wilderness under the direction of their cruel king, Nion.

Fairly obviously, Hilde villainies this expansionist behaviour and deals with its associated issues well, using the story around the first of his two main characters to highlight them: a ranger from an ancient and immortal branch of humans called Imogen Rhone, who has vowed to protect nature. Consequently, she seeks to protect the magical and sentient animals of the world from King Nion's industry and ultimately, seeks to save mankind from itself by drawing them back into nature before it's too late and we severe our ties with it for good.

As Rhone's adventures play out, Hilde concurrently tells the story of his other main character: a young boy called Corwin Sam, as he struggles to come to terms with his great celestial power and the huge scope of his destiny - learning that the fate of the word is in his hands!

Final Thoughts
Blue Truth is imaginative and, despite being aimed for adults, reads with the light-hearted and jovial air of a fairytale that I found particularly refreshing after reading a great many 'heavier' fantasies fairly recently. Thus, I would recommend reading Blue Truth to anyone who is searching for a fun, yet light-hearted and gripping fantasy adventure!

The Painted Man - Peter V. Brett

RATING: FIVE STARS

The Painted Man (released as The Warded Man in the USA) is the first instalment of the Demon Cycle series of novels and supporting novellas by Peter V. Brett. The book is high fantasy; set in a world where human civilisation collapsed hundreds of years ago and its survivors now spend their nights cowering behind magical wards while they are hunted and terrorised by the malicious demons that rise from the Core each night.

The ruin of our civilisation has meant the loss of all of our technology and science, so we now live quaintly with only the basic necessities to sustain us as we once did. Even worse than this, Brett explains that during the 'Age of Ignorance', when our technological understanding grew, our knowledge of the magical world declined and the wards to harm the otherwise invincible Corelings were lost and forgotten... 

And this, in the long-established aftermath of the war, is where Brett's gripping story picks up, beginning with a young farm boy called Arlen who dreams of fighting demons so that men and women will no longer have to spend their entire lives living in fear of dying in the night. This is easier said than done however, and Arlen knows that he must first find and replicate the attack wards from the First Demon War that have long been lost... 

Deciding that this is worth dedicating his life too, Arlen abandons his young life and sets out to join the guild of Messengers - men who travel between towns and villages to keep them in contact with the Dukes who rule from the Free Cities - so that he can search for lost relics. His quest is harder than he could have known, filled with pain, loss and betrayal, but he knows that the prizes he could obtain are worth it and is adamant that he will not die as a coward trembling in the night like countless others before him. 

Although this story-line makes up the bulk of the book, with Brett focusing mainly around the adventures of Arlen - outlining his growth from a child into a young man, there are two other sub-plots included that tell of the hardships endured by Leesha, a healer and one of few guardians of the old science; and of Rojer Halfhand, a young jongleur who is determined to learn how to defend himself... Their stories are both heartbreaking, even more so than Arlen's, and help to give an interesting and bigger picture of how Brett's recusant society works. 

I found The Painted Man to be a superbly written book that is packed with action from the very beginning, making it a must read for any fan of fantasy. But be warned before you start reading it - The Painted Man is addictive and is extremely difficult to put down, so make sure you have a lot of spare time to hand when you first pick it up!

Sunday 30 December 2012

The Left Hand of God - Paul Hoffman

RATING: FIVE STARS

I really enjoyed reading The Left Hand of God, which provides a somewhat unique and slightly novel perception of a dystopian society. The society of the Redeemers, which appears to be based around an altered form of Christianity, seeks (rather predictably) to spread its control across the rest of world, but is unable to do this because it has been engaged in a hundred-year war with a rival faction of another odd Christianity-based religion, which they refer to as the Antagonists. 

Without spoilers, the plot of the book focuses around a young boy, Thomas Cale, who has been brought up under the ruthless regime of the Redeemers in a fortress called the Sanctuary, where he has spent his entire life and has been trained to be a merciless holy soldier. Cale soon finds himself outside of his sheltered life in the Sanctuary and is plunged into the aristocracy of a honour-bound militant society, where he continuously finds himself to be out of his comfort zone - a factor that makes his life very difficult and leads to decisions that leave his loyalties questioned by both sides. 

The contrast between the two societies that feature in the book help to keep it fresh throughout and Hoffman does a splendid job in highlighting the differences in the culture between the Redeemers and the Materazzi (the militant society mentioned above), describing how these differences impact on Cale and effect his decisions. This, along with an interesting and strong plot line, helped to keep me enthralled in the story and made the book very difficult to put down. 

Hoffman also develops the majority of his main characters well and steers away from making their personalities generically good or bad. This adds a 'third dimension' to his characters and helps to keep them interesting, as well as making them more relatable - adding a believability to the story, despite its complex and fictitious setting. 

One flaw with the book however, (although I should point out that this doesn't hinder its enjoyability), is that the geography of the world Hoffman has created is confusing. This is mainly because there is no map with the book and he uses the names of real places, which may be mere miles away from each other in the book, yet be in different countries in real life. This slightly odd 'map' and Hoffman's alterations of Christianity makes the setting of the world slightly hard to comprehend - is it supposed to be an entirely new world, or is it set in the future for example, with the world recovering from some sort of apocalyptic disaster? However, this problem is just me 'nit-picking' and has no real reflection on the story. 

So, overall, the book is very well-written and the religion, societies and characters that Hoffman has developed are believable and fairly original. Due to this, I would strongly recommend adding The Left hand of God to your reading list if you're interested in dystopia or fantasy.

The Bonds of Blood - Travis Simmons

RATING: FOUR STARS

The Bonds of Blood is the first instalment of Travis Simmons' Revenant Wyrd Saga, an epic fantasy that chronicles the adventures of Jovian, Angelica and Joya Neferis as they embark upon a dangerous quest to save their older sister, Amber, from the clutches of an unknown but prophecised evil.

Before they set out from their plantation home, Dauin Neferis gifts his children with elaborate weapons and powerful artefacts that were once owned by their mother; equipment that he knows will be invaluable if they are to succeed in their quest and bring Amber home safely. Lord Neferis also knows that there is more to his children than he has told them and sends Grace, a mysterious and elderly scholar, to guide and watch over them while they traverse the wilderness.

Frequented by reticent spirits and ancient figures with powers beyond their understanding, the Neferis children are continuously tested in ways that they could have scarcely have imagined and begin to discover what their father had neglected to tell them: that they have many more gifts than financial privilege. 

The Good
Simmons has set The Bonds of Blood in a remarkably vivid world, which has a well developed and unique history that gives the book a fascinating sense of realism. To briefly summarise his world, the Holy Mother became sick of the strife that man caused as they tried to rule and own all that surrounded them and, long before the events of the story, separated the Spirit Realm from those of the physical, leaving their inhabitants with little of the Wyrding Way. 

In addition to being set in a magical world that I could actually imagine as existing, Simmons has a remarkable imagination and has filled The Bonds of Blood with many different races of creatures (other than humans) that act to help or hinder the Neferis children in their own different ways. This adds a much more interesting depth to the story than if it was simply about good humans fighting bad ones, which in turn adds to its enjoyment to read.

The Bad
The main issue I had while reading The Bonds of Blood is that Simmons has, sadly, over-described everything and uses too many necessary adverbs in his prose. This slows down the speed of the story and makes much of the text more boring to read than it needed to be. 

Furthermore, Simmons tells the events as they unfold from multiple points-of-view, and whereas I don't have a problem with this per se, the extent to which Simmons switches character within each chapter often makes it hard to follow what's going on and who is thinking/doing what.

Final Thoughts
Despite having a few problems that may have put me off reading The Bonds of Blood before I picked it up, I think, after reading it, that it's scope and imagination easily counteracts them and make the book well worth reading. Thus, I would strongly recommend reading The Bonds of Blood to any lover of fantasy and even to someone who's unfamiliar with the genre, but wants to experience epic imagination at its best!

The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien

RATING: FOUR STARS

I have to say that along with J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, The Hobbit was one of my favourite books when I was a child. Due to this, I was overjoyed to learn that Peter Jackson was turning the book into another of his amazing films and decided to re-read the novel before going to watch it (which I have now seen by the way, and would recommend watching).

And having recently read the book, I've decided to review it here. The problem I face however, is what can I really say about such a renown book to do it justice? Probably not much, but I'm going to give it a go anyway!

So, as you would expect from a novel hailed as a "timeless classic", The Hobbit is a delightful read throughout and Tolkien manages to encapsulate the very real air of danger that surrounds Thorin's party of dwarves, Mr. Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the wizard masterfully, describing their adventures as they embark upon their quest to reclaim the lost kingdom of Erebor from Smaug the Magnificent.

Throughout the book, Tolkien's style is light-hearted and his vivid descriptions of the events and locations of the story keep it interesting throughout and make it fun to read, with the language used being easy to understand for most children. His use of characters is also light-hearted and they are easy to engage with, having realistic reactions to the misfortunes and hardships that befall them - a factor that adds an air of plausibility to the book that is lacked by some works of fantasy.

So, overall, I would recommend reading The Hobbit to anyone, regardless of whether you're a fan of fantasy or not! Furthermore, it describes how Mr. Baggins finds the One Ring and acts (kind of) as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings - another timeless classic that helped to spawn the whole genre of high fantasy!

Saturday 29 December 2012

Release of 'The Phoenix Crisis'

As I was pointlessly trawling down my Facebook feed the other day, I was delighted to find that Richard L. Sanders, a remarkable and sadly underrated indie sci-fi author, has announced the release of the latest instalment of his Phoenix Conspiracy series - The Phoenix Crisis.

I have long been awaiting the release of Crisis and have to admit that, after discovering it was out, I treated myself to a late and rather cheeky Christmas present. Still, if you've read the prequels in this series you will understand why I simply had to buy it! And if you haven't, then the first book of the saga called The Phoenix Conspiracy is free as an ebook from Amazon (and probably from other platforms as well, though I haven't looked) and is definitely worth a read if you are interested in the genre; providing you with a gritty and realistic space opera with particularly well-used dialogue.

About this blog

Hi all!

As I make this blog and type this post, I'm well aware that there are probably thousands of similar sites already out there, littering the internet with each author's views and opinions on what was good or bad with their latest read and why therefore, you should lovingly delve into its pages or give it a miss. And let's face it, does the internet really need another one?

Well, if I'm honest, no... but, as the Google Chrome advert so wisely says: "the internet is what we make of it". A nice little quote that brings me here - writing fantasy bookshelf review's introductory post. So what does this blog offer you that's different from all of the others out there?

Well, nothing actually. All is does is provide you with news on recently published books and, you guessed it, my own opinions on the many novels and stories I've read. All I can promise is that these opinions will be honest and all of the books reviewed on this site will get the praise they deserve - I am writing these reviews for you after all!

Obviously, there are many different genres of books out there and, as the blog's title suggests, the reviews posted here will predominantly deal with works of fantasy (and primarily high fantasy at that), since this is my main area of interest. But saying that, I'm also a huge lover of science fiction and such books will often be featured here as well, along with whatever else happens to catch my fancy really.

And so the basis of this blog is covered, meaning that this post is nearly over. But before I finish up, I just want to tell you a little about myself. Well, I'm a biologist graduating from the University of Manchester; an avid lover of the natural world; and, rather importantly, am a huge fan of books (which is fairly obvious really). Also, it's important to me that I tell about my passion for penning the written word as well as for reading it and, due to this, I have another blog I post on called this world we live in, which I hope you will check out after reading this!

David Taylor

P.S. Feel free to contact me via fantasybookshelfreview@gmail.com or Twitter.