kgbooklog

Steven Erikson, Blood Follows
Night Shade (2002) ISBN: 1-597800-04-X
Score: 1

A Malazan novella showing how Emancipor Reese was hired by Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. Actually, most of the story follows the sergaent of the guard investigating the mysterious deaths, but the book doesn't really work as a mystery. I was rather disappointed in this; things I like about Erikson just don't seem to work in shorter works.

Next Book: Tobais S. Buckell, Crystal Rain

Kelley Armstrong, Stolen
Viking (2002) ISBN: 0-670-03137-2
Score: 2.5

Second Otherworld book, also narrated by Elena. Some people with too much money and too few morals start collecting supernaturals, and as a result the werewolves meet some of the other weird things running around (witches, vampires, shamans, half-demons, sorcerers, etc).

Next Book: Naomi Novik, Black Powder War

Trudi Canavan, The Novice
Eos (2002) ISBN: 0-06-057529-8
Score: 1.5

Second book of the Black Magician trilogy. We learn bits and pieces of the head magician's dark secret, but the book is mostly about the heroine getting harassed by her classmates. I am very thankful that I attended public schools.

Next Book: Naomi Novik, Throne of Jade

Jane Lindskold, Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart
Tor (2002) ISBN: 0-312-87426-X
Score: 1.5

Second book about Firekeeper, the girl raised by wolves. The setting and characters are still quite good, and Firekeeper plays a more central role. But the plot had a few sloppy inconsistencies (and one possibly major one), and a couple things I thought the characters should have done in the previous book would have made this book's conflict impossible.

Next Book: Justine Larbalestier, Magic Lessons

Lawrence Watt-Evans, Ithanalin's Restoration
Tor (2002) ISBN: 0-765-30012-5
Score: 3

Another Ethshar book (I've now read everything except a couple short stories), set at the same time as The Spell of the Black Dagger but in a different city, so there are some spoilers for that conflict; Gresh, Kaligir, and Valder are mentioned, but do not appear. Ithanalin is interrupted in the middle of a spell, accidentally animating his furniture while de-animating his body. And all the other wizards are busy panicking about events in Ethshar of the Sands, so his apprentice Kilisha has to fix things herself. It was nice to see a professional wizard at work, but this book made me realize how little we know of other types of magic. I did like the bit where Kilisha argues with a witch over whether herbalism is magic.

Next Book: Diane Duane, Wizards at War

4-3-05
F. Paul Wilson, Reborn
Dark Harvest (1990) ISBN: 0-913165-52-2
Score: 1.5

The second novel of his Adversary Cycle, this one is more solidly in the Horror genre and lacks the sappy ending of The Keep. It gains a point for having sympathetic characters on both sides of the conflict, but loses a point for killing most of the cast without resolving much of anything. I read this in the hopes of learning more about certain characters (the Lady and the Twins) mentioned in the Repairman Jack novel Conspiracies, but sadly, they aren't mentioned in this book.

4-10-05
F. Paul Wilson, All the Rage
Forge (2000) ISBN: 0-312-86796-4
Score: 2

Fourth Repairman Jack book, this one about drugs. Once again Jack (a professional vigilante in New York City) gets involved in weird stuff while trying to mete out poetic justice.

4-18-05
F. Paul Wilson, Hosts
Forge (2001) ISBN: 0-312-87866-4
Score: 2.5

Fifth Repairman Jack novel, this time he has to deal with his sister, a nosy reporter, and a virus that turns people into a hive mind.

4-27-05
F. Paul Wilson, The Haunted Air
Forge (2002) ISBN: 0-312-87868-0
Score: 2.5

Sixth Repairman Jack novel. Psychics, ghosts, and guys who abduct little kids.

3-16-05
Rosemary Edghill, The Warslayer
Baen (2002) ISBN: 0-7434-3536-2
Score: 1.5

Glory McArdle, star of "The Incredibly True Adventures of Vixen the Slayer" (the 21st century successor to Buffy and Xena) gets sucked into a fantasyland that is in desparate need of a hero. Interesting premise, but it didn't grab me the way her Twelve Treasures series did, and some of the plot twists were awfully predictable. There is room for sequels, but no need for them; I personally wouldn't mind a prequel explaining how the Amazons got involved.