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Review: Those Left Behind, by N. C. Scrimgeour

Review: Those Left Behind, by N. C. Scrimgeour

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Those Left Behind by N. C. Scrimgeour

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

Those Left Behind is a space-opera novel, the first in a planned trilogy.

The human world of New Pallas is on the brink of destruction due to internal strife, overpopulation, and environmental collapse. Its only hope lies in the hands of Alvera Renata, a revolutionary turned starship captain. She intends to command a state-of-the-art ship, the Ranger, on a desperate mission to find a new home for her people.

When Ranger flies through a “waystation” on the edge of the New Pallas system, Alvera and her crew find themselves amid a galaxy-wide civilization called the Coalition, governed by a loose alliance of humans and several other species. In theory, the Coalition could provide new homes for all New Pallas’s billions. In practice, the alliance has troubles of its own. Aggressive outsiders, the Idran-Var, threaten the peace. Even worse, there are signs that some completely unknown entity is preparing to attack the Coalition – a force which may have eradicated whole civilizations in the past.

At first, the Coalition cautiously welcomes Alvera’s mission. Then a shocking betrayal scatters her crew and threatens to end her mission before it can even begin.

The story that follows is told from multiple points of view: Alvera herself, the son of her worst enemy, a colonist girl with unusual skills, a deadly young woman who refuses to be a warrior, and a soldier who comes to suspect he is fighting the wrong war. As we follow these five characters, we get a tour of Coalition space and the sense of a terrible conflict that is about to begin.

Those Left Behind is very clearly the first novel in a series. This book sets up a complex, multi-threaded story, and it resolves very few of the conflicts it starts. Even so, the characters are clearly drawn and engaging, and I found myself compulsively turning pages to see what would happen to them next. I usually dislike ensemble stories told from multiple viewpoints, but N. C. Scrimgeour has the skill to make it work. Her prose style is very clean, too – I had a hard time finding any copy-editing or line-editing problems in the text. This is a very professional job.

If I had a concern about Those Left Behind, it’s that the setting and plot felt a little derivative. The author’s ad copy mentions that “fans of Mass Effect . . . will love this,” and she is not kidding in the slightest. If you’re acquainted with the Mass Effect universe, then a lot of elements of the setting and plot are going to feel familiar here. It’s not a matter of copying – the most I would say is that this story is strongly inspired by the world of the video game series. N. C. Scrimgeour has done a superb job of remixing and reworking familiar tropes, building a compelling story atop them.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Those Left Behind, and I’m going to be watching for the next book in the series. Very highly recommended if you enjoy high-octane space opera in the vein of the Mass Effect games.

Review: Dio in the Dark, by Rizwan Asad

Review: Dio in the Dark, by Rizwan Asad

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Dio in the Dark by Rizwan Asad

Overall Rating: **** (4 stars)

Dio in the Dark is an urban-fantasy novella, centered on the lives of the Greek pantheon in the modern world.

The protagonist of this story is Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry, although in the modern day he prefers to be called simply “Dio” to blend in. Dio, and the other Olympians, live in present-day Toronto. They retain a few of their divine powers, but the modern world has moved on from their active worship, reducing them to shadows of their ancient selves. Zeus works as an eccentric sanitation worker, Apollo is a musician with a preference for fine electric guitars, and Dio spends most of his time at bars and clubs.

At the beginning of the story, Dio is at odds with Zeus, holding a long-standing grudge for the fate of his mortal mother Semele. Zeus, on the other hand, is concerned with a threat only he foresees, a so-called “Darkness” that he fears may be coming for the Olympians. Soon Zeus disappears, and Dio is left to solve a mystery. Where has Zeus gone? Who or what is the Darkness? Can the Olympians survive?

What follows is a clever urban-fantasy tale, well-informed by the details of Greek myth. I was very impressed by Rizwan Asad’s prose style; it’s very clean, with almost no copy-editing or line-editing problems that I could find. The story snaps, with plenty of truly audacious moments in the plot, and I found myself pulled along with ease.

About the only complaint I had was with respect to pacing. A major plot development comes in the middle of a time-skip that isn’t well demonstrated to the reader. There are also a few odd interquel chapters that are interesting, and that develop Dio’s character, but that seem to intrude into the plot. These are minor quibbles! By and large, the story is well written and tightly plotted.

I very much enjoyed Dio in the Dark, and I’m going to be looking out for more from this author. Highly recommended if you enjoy urban fantasy steeped in the intricacies of ancient Greek myth.

Review: The Chains of Ares, by Frank Schildiner

Review: The Chains of Ares, by Frank Schildiner

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The Chains of Ares by Frank Schildiner

Overall Rating: **** (4 stars)

The Chains of Ares is a collection of four short stories, all set in the time of the late Roman Republic, involving action-filled adventure and supernatural horror.

Marcus Fabius Maximus is a member of the Roman aristocracy, descended from a very old patrician family. He is the son-in-law of the Dictator, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who appointed him to the position of rex sacrorum or “sacred king.” That isn’t just a political appointment. As one of the Republic’s foremost priests, Marcus is an expert on religious ritual and on the supernatural, and he is often sent to deal with paranormal threats to the growing Roman empire. He is accompanied on his missions by Kara Fabia, a formidable female warrior who was once a gladiator and now serves as his bodyguard.

Marcus and Kara are close friends and partners who (rather refreshingly) have no romantic interest in each another. They’re also far from a clichéd “brains and brawn” pair. Just as Marcus can handle himself in a scrap, Kara is by no means dumb muscle. The dynamic between these two characters is one of the most attractive elements of these stories.

Each of the stories in this collection involves one of Marcus and Kara’s missions, against ghosts, bizarre cults, or monsters out of ancient myth. The stories often involve puzzles that Marcus and Kara must solve, along with plenty of bloody action scenes. Each story is well embedded in the historical setting; I caught a couple of stumbles in the research, but by and large Mr. Schildiner has done his homework with careful attention to detail. If you’re familiar with the work of Robert Howard or H. P. Lovecraft, you may recognize some of the “ancient lore” that Marcus deals with.

The biggest weakness of The Chains of Ares is in its prose mechanics. The draft badly needs a copy-editor, with grammatical errors and odd word choices scattered throughout. It’s a testament to the fast pace, interesting characters, and clever world-building in these stories that I wasn’t pulled out of the narrative.

I quite enjoyed The Chains of Ares, and I found myself wishing for more about these characters and their world. Highly recommended if you enjoy pulp-style adventure, with intriguing characters and plenty of action, set in ancient times.

Review: Deathsworn, by H. K. Oby

Review: Deathsworn, by H. K. Oby

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Deathsworn by H. K. Oby

Overall Rating: *** (3 stars)

Deathsworn is the first novel in a planned series called The Mahasiddhi Chronicle, an urban fantasy drawing on the rich tapestry of Hindu legend.

Amin is a young man living on the streets of modern India. From youth, he has been forced to struggle for survival. This has driven him to become a superb thief and confidence artist, specializing in posing as a sadhu (a religious ascetic) in order to swindle valuables out of devout but gullible victims.

At the beginning of the story, Amin carries off one such scam, but before he can enjoy his gains he is double-crossed and apparently killed. At the very moment of his seeming death, he is snatched out of danger by a mysterious force called “the Pulse.” He learns that he is to serve as a “Deathsworn,” a holy warrior trained in the martial arts, pledged to defend the world against evil rakshasas (demons) who threaten it. He is sent to a school for new Deathsworn, where sages and figures out of Hindu lore will train him as a superhuman warrior with siddhis (superpowers) that will help him face the rakshasas.

Unfortunately, nothing goes as planned. Amin is rejected by his teachers and his fellow students. He fails to display any of the siddhis normally granted to all Deathsworn. Worst of all, it seems that the Hindu gods have it in for Amin, and they are doing their best to kill him before he can complete his training!

The story that follows is reminiscent of the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson novels: a modern character dropped into a fiercely demanding school that’s grounded in some flavor of the supernatural, forced to overcome obstacles that stand in the way of his success. It’s a familiar formula, but it works, and H. K. Oby applies the common tropes well.

Deathsworn is a debut novel, and it shows. Every character’s dialogue, and the author’s narrative voice, all use the same colloquial language even in moments where a different style might be more in keeping with the premise. It’s a little jarring to hear figures out of the Mahabharata using chatty, conversational English even at a point of high drama. The novel needs the attention of a copy editor as well; the basic prose mechanics (word choice, spelling, capitalization) are noticeably rough.

Despite those criticisms, I found the story worked well and kept me engaged. Amin was a charming protagonist; his supporting cast, less fully developed, were believable as his allies, friends, and rivals. The core of the story is about Amin’s growth as a person, and the discovery of honest virtue beneath his armor of cynicism. Watching his evolution through this fast-paced story kept me turning the pages.

The backdrop of Hindu myth, given a modern slant, was intriguing as well. I found myself recognizing elements from my own past reading, and l was driven to look up more details that I didn’t immediately recognize.

All in all, Deathsworn is a flawed first effort, but I found it a quick and enjoyable read. If you have any interest in a “school for heroes” story, set amid the complexities of Hindu myth, this novel and its sequels are worth watching.

Review: Saint Dorian and the Witch, by Michael Raship

Review: Saint Dorian and the Witch, by Michael Raship

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Saint Dorian and the Witch by Michael Raship

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

Saint Dorian and the Witch is a splendid piece of fantasy, a personal journey and a love story set in a world torn apart by quarreling gods and religious fanaticism.

Bartholomew is a young monk, living in a monastery on the outer edge of an Empire that seems to take a great deal of inspiration from the landscapes and cultures of South Asia. The Empire is a very orderly place, ruled by an emperor and subordinate local kings, all supported by the powerful monastic order in which Bartholomew has been raised. Everyone reveres the great god Ael, the Lord of Destiny who maintains the rigid order of the world. Sometimes Ael sends a special servant, a “saint,” into the world to carry out some holy mission. The history of the Empire is full of tales of these saints, their special powers, and their epic struggles against chaos.

Bartholomew is a young man, but he has a special talent: he is a Librarian, someone who can not only read all of the sacred texts, but who can recite them from memory. Unfortunately, the more he studies the sacred texts, the less he believes in them, and the more he feels that there is something missing in the world under Ael’s dominion.

One day Bartholomew begins to dream of a new saint, one not yet recognized by the Empire and the monastic order. This new saint seems to promise the serenity that Bartholomew’s status as a monk and Librarian can no longer provide. Caught up in his new devotion, he leaves his monastery on a quest to join Saint Dorian in the heartland of the Empire. Along the way he meets Ruth, a young witch with her own special talent for spell-casting and magic.

What follows is a gorgeous tale woven around multiple themes: quests for spiritual fulfillment, the perils of religious fanaticism, the clash between order and chaos, the value of love and compassion, and the abiding power of stories. I found myself constantly surprised by the tale, constantly turning the page to see what might happen next.

Mechanically, the novel is very well put together. The prose style is impeccably clean, with a minimum of distractions and no copy-editing errors that I could catch. One thing that may throw some readers is that, for all the excellence of the world-building, the story is largely driven by the logic of myth. Things happen in the story because they’re dramatically appropriate, not always because they make coldly rational sense . . . but then, that appears to be part of the point.

I loved Saint Dorian and the Witch, quite a bit more than I expected when I began it. I came to the end of this book wishing for more. Very strongly recommended.

Review: The Crimson Throne, by Gordon Doherty

Review: The Crimson Throne, by Gordon Doherty

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The Crimson Throne (Book Four of Empires of Bronze) by Gordon Doherty

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

The Crimson Throne is the most recent volume of Empires of Bronze, Gordon Doherty’s ongoing historical fiction series set in the ancient Hittite Empire. In this volume, Mr. Doherty continues to weave a superb action-adventure story out of the scraps and tatters of documentary evidence from the period.

The Crimson Throne continues to follow Prince Hattu, a member of the Hittite royal house. After his victories over the Egyptians during the Kadesh campaign, Hattu returned to his homeland to find that his brother had died under mysterious circumstances, and his brother’s son had taken the throne. He soon learned that the new king, called here by his original name of Urhi-Teshub, was responsible for his own father’s death.

Prince Hattu despises his nephew for his treachery, but the young king has many allies, and he holds Hattu’s beloved wife and son as hostages. Hattu therefore tries to remain a loyal servant of the Hittite throne. At the beginning of The Crimson Throne, he has been sent as a diplomatic envoy to the court of King Priam of Troy. Later, he returns to the Hittite capital, only to be confronted with his nephew’s corruption and misrule. Soon enough, he begins to consider rebellion – but the path to the Hittite throne will not be an easy one for the war-weary prince.

Mr. Doherty continues to do a fine job of working with the original sources. Students of Hittite history will recognize many of the references here. Prince Hattu, his wife Puduhepa, Urhi-Teshub, a renegade named Piya-maradu, all of these are well-known in what few documents we have from the time. Troy is also becoming central to the plot of the series, and here the story draws from the familiar Greek myths. I can attest that pulling all of these disparate threads of history and myth together into a coherent narrative is a challenge, one that Mr. Doherty meets with aplomb.

In this volume, the plot continues to be tight and plausible – the minor stumbles in the plot of the first two volumes of the series are no longer visible here. There’s not a lot of moral ambiguity in this blood-and-guts story. I found myself rooting for Prince Hattu as he struggled his way through danger and hardship, and hissing at the malevolence of the villains. As I’ve come to expect from this series, the prose style is clean, with very few copy-editing errors.

Readers should be aware, of course, that the story is set in a brutal and violent time. Descriptions of human cruelty and violence are common and very explicit.

I very much enjoyed The Crimson Thone and am looking forward to the next books in the series – especially now that the Greek heroic age is being woven into the plot in some detail! Strongly recommended, as an action-packed story of treachery and rebellion set in ancient times.

Review: The Craftsman and the Wizard, by Joel Newlon

Review: The Craftsman and the Wizard, by Joel Newlon

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The Craftsman and the Wizard by Joel Newlon

Overall Rating: **** (4 stars)

The Craftsman and the Wizard is a flawed but entertaining story, a high-fantasy novel with the trappings of an old Norse tale, but which is firmly rooted in the present day.

The village of Two Rivers has a terrible problem. Ever since one of the farmers disturbed an ancient runestone in the middle of his fields, the village has been haunted by a draugr, the revenant of an old burial mound. The monster has been taking children from the farms all around, binding them beneath the earth and leaving their families to mourn.

Two unlikely heroes, and later a third, come on quest to help Two Rivers. The dwarven smith Dvalinn is called to answer an ancient debt, bringing all his skills as a warrior and craftsman. The apprentice wizard Asmund is called by a series of terrible dreams. Later, a woodcutter girl named Kolga joins Asmund, at first out of a yearning for adventure, later out of love.

Most of the story follows first Dvalinn, then Asmund and Kolga, as they make their way separately toward the stricken village. The two sets of heroes move independently – they know nothing about each other and don’t interact until the very end of the story.

The two plot threads have very different flavor and feel, almost as if the heroes are moving through two completely separate worlds. Dvalinn’s scenes are more entwined with Norse myth, involving epic battles against supernatural foes. Asmund and Kolga seem to be moving through a more generic fantasy world, facing down human bigotry and corruption. In fact, some of Asmund’s scenes turn into rather unsubtle political satire, of a kind that would only make sense in today’s world.

In fact, this dichotomy is what I had the most trouble with while reading The Craftsman and the Wizard. It was as if the novel didn’t know what it wanted to be. One moment I might be lost in a truly audacious scene built out of deep myth, the next I would find myself plodding through a scene about a cowardly warrior or a pathetic mad king. I kept getting pulled out of the story as a result.

Still, Joel Newlon has done a good job with this story. His prose is clean, with only a few copy-editing errors (and one consistently irritating misspelling). The story has plenty of emotional heft, especially when it focuses on the heroes and their motivations. I found myself caring about the characters and their struggles, turning the pages to see how the plot threads would resolve. The conclusion was entirely satisfying. Recommended.

Review: Nothing, by R. J. Goldman

Review: Nothing, by R. J. Goldman

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Nothing by R. J. Goldman

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

Nothing is a science-fantasy novelette, set in the present day. While it doesn’t break much new ground, it’s a tightly plotted and well-written story about young super-powered people on the run.

At the beginning of the story, Juana Pérez is riding home from work on public transit, being harassed by a coarse drunk who refuses to back off. Under stress, Juana “lights up,” summoning up a burst of flames that drives the creep away with blisters. Unfortunately, the entire car full of commuters saw and heard the incident, and at least one of them caught it on their phone. Fleeing from all the eyewitnesses and the blaring alarm, Juana realizes that her cover is well and truly blown.

It turns out that Juana, and her siblings Ajay, JT, and Taro, are all the product of illicit experiments that gave them control over the four classical elements. Juana has control over Fire, able to summon it up and direct it, and her brothers have similar command over Water, Earth, and Air. Some time ago they escaped from the lab where they were created, and they have been in hiding ever since. Now, with Juana’s burst of power making the news, they fear they may have to abandon their lives once more.

What follows is a story about courage, trust and betrayal, and the ties of a self-chosen family. The dialogue snaps along, and the action scenes near the end are thrilling.

Nothing is very well done – R. J. Goldman has crisp, clean prose, with few or no copy-editing errors, and she knows how to put a story together. There weren’t a lot of surprises in the plot, but I found it a very quick and smooth read. When I reached the end, I craved more about this world and these characters. Highly recommended.

Review: Bird in a Snare, by N. L. Holmes

Review: Bird in a Snare, by N. L. Holmes

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Bird in a Snare (A Lord Hani Mystery) by N. L. Holmes

Overall Rating: **** (4 stars)

Bird in a Snare is the first in a series of historical mystery novels, written by N. L. Holmes, set in the late Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. This story may or may not work for the reader as a mystery, but it does give us a superb portrait of an Egyptian official, trying to serve his king under very trying circumstances.

Bird in a Snare introduces Lord Hani, an Egyptian scribe who serves the royal house as a messenger and diplomat. Hani is actually an historical figure, mentioned in the Amarna Letters which document many events of the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The story presents him as a decent and diligent man, as devoted to his wife and children as to his royal patron.

At the beginning of the story, we see Hani serving as host to Abdi-Ashirta, a Syrian magnate who is visiting Egypt in an attempt to gain the favor of Pharaoh. All seems well, but when Abdi-Ashirta returns home, he is murdered. Hani is sent as Pharaoh’s envoy to discover who committed the assassination, and to represent Egyptian interests in the region. This assignment proves far easier said than done. What with the schemes of various parties in Syria, the death of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, and drastic changes under the new Pharaoh (Akhenaten), Lord Hani’s life soon becomes very complicated . . . and more than a little dangerous.

N. L. Holmes is a trained archaeologist who is very familiar with the relevant history. Indeed, the plot and setting of Bird in a Snare reflect recent developments in scholarly study of the period. Political maneuvering, the religious revolution of Akhenaten, and the details of everyday Egyptian life all ring with authenticity. Best of all, her lead characters – Lord Hani, and his assistant Maya – are thoroughly likable and easy to sympathize with. Seeing the world of the late Bronze Age through their eyes is a treat.

I found that the story didn’t quite work for me as a mystery. Hani and Maya do take steps to investigate the murder of Abdi-Ashirta, and to follow a trail of corruption that leads all the way back to Pharaoh’s court. Yet for the most part the mystery seems to resolve itself, without much need for Hani and Maya to take action. Hani’s most important decision isn’t how to solve the crime, it’s what to do with the information once he has it. The result might be anticlimactic for readers who expect a fair-play “whodunnit.”

Another small issue: the book begins with many pages of historical notes and a glossary, rather than placing such material at the end. Some readers may find this useful. The story itself doesn’t pull any punches with Ancient Egyptian names and vocabulary, which may be difficult for readers not familiar with the period. Readers who prefer to jump right into the narrative should be prepared to riffle through quite a few pages before the story itself begins.

Still, these are minor complaints. Overall, the book was very well done with superb production values, and I caught very few copy-editing errors. The story worked very well as a window into an ancient and largely forgotten world.

I enjoyed Bird in a Snare very much, and I’m looking forward to later books in the series. Recommended for anyone who enjoys historical fiction set in the ancient world.

Review: The Drowning Land, by David M. Donachie

Review: The Drowning Land, by David M. Donachie

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The Drowning Land by David M. Donachie

Overall Rating: **** (4 stars)

The Drowning Land is a piece of prehistorical fiction, set in northern Europe a little over eight thousand years ago. It’s an adventure story, a romance, and a disaster novel all rolled into one, set in a land that literally sank beneath the sea in the distant past. The result is an interesting and entertaining read.

This review is based on an advance review copy (ARC) shared with me by the author. The final published version may differ slightly from what I’ve read.

Edan is a young member of a Mesolithic tribe, dark-skinned and blue-eyed people, who live in what he thinks of as “the Summer Lands.” Edan’s tribe have lived there from time out of mind, migrating between the coast and the highlands every year in response to the seasons. Their lives are driven by ancient tradition, but they may soon be faced with a crisis that tradition will never help them solve. For the Summer Lands are sinking beneath the waters of the sea, and many are afraid they will soon vanish altogether.

This isn’t a piece of fantasy. The Summer Lands are, in fact, Doggerland – a region that once acted as a land bridge, connecting the British Isles to the continent of Europe. At one time, Doggerland may have been one of the richest countries inhabited by human beings. Yet as the climate shifted following the end of the last Ice Age, Doggerland was eventually submerged beneath the North Sea. Today, its remnants form the “Dogger Bank,” an underwater feature off the eastern shores of Britain.

At the beginning of the story, Edan and his tribe are already struggling to survive. Not only is the once-rich country being slowly poisoned by rising salt water, but other tribes are responding to the crisis by becoming fierce and aggressive. Edan’s people meet one such group, a band of renegades who have taken predatory wolves as their totem, led by a war-chieftain named Phelan. At first, the contact promises to be peaceful, but when Edan rescues a young woman from the other band and accidentally kills one of Phelan’s followers, the consequences are severe.

Edan and the young woman, Tara, are forced to flee together for their lives. Tara, it turns out, is a “troll,” not quite what Edan’s people would recognize as human. In fact, she is from a tribe that has significant Neanderthal ancestry. She is also a visionary, cursed with foreknowledge that the Summer Lands will be drowned within months, on a quest to see if the spirit world can be roused to prevent the disaster.

What follows is a small odyssey, as Edan and Tara travel from one end of the Summer Lands to the other, fleeing from Phelan’s people and the rising seas, visiting other tribes, and seeking a solution to the imminent end of their world. Along the way they both grow and change, and they fall in love. Their fate, and the fate of the entire Summer Lands, is bound up in the rest of the story.

Once I got past the first few chapters of The Drowning Land – which felt a little slow of pace – I found it a compelling story. Edan and Tara are sympathetic characters, and even villains like Phelan have depth to them. As a piece of historical fiction, the story is very thoroughly researched and plausible; Mr. Donachie has certainly done his homework. I was rather reminded of some of Jean Auel’s work.

The story shifts viewpoints with each new chapter, a technique I don’t always appreciate, although Mr. Donachie does take care to label each chapter so that the reader won’t be confused. The prose was also not quite as clean as I usually want to see, with a few typos, and occasional mis-paragraphing during dialogue. None of this rose above the level of a minor distraction, nor did it pull me out of the story.

On the whole, The Drowning Land should work well for anyone who’s interested in historical fantasy, or tales of human survival under punishing circumstances. Recommended.