The King’s Peace (2000) and The King’s Name (2001) by Jo Walton In actuality, there are really three books in two. The first book, The King’s Peace is actually two books, “The King’s Peace” and “The Kings Law” which are just a little shorter than the second book, The King’s Name. The tale is a […]
Freedom & Necessity (1997) Steven Brust and Emma Bull Delving back into Brust section of my bookshelves, I came back with Freedom and Necessity, a book that I remember as complicated, although good. And since I remembered nothing of the plot, I figured it was a good candidate for re-reading. I have to admit that […]
The Phoenix Guards (1991) & Five Hundred Years After (1994) Steven Brust Sometimes you just need to read a book that you know is going to make you happy. When those times come upon me, I frequently read Steven Brust. The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After are two of the ‘Khaavren Romances’ centered […]
The Initiate Brother (1991) Gatherer of Clouds (1992) Sean Russell I love to re-read books. There is something about recapturing the joy they gave me the first time, that allows me to pick up some books again and again. But sometimes, time passes, and other books are read, until all that remains is the memory […]
The Last Light of the Sun (2004) Guy Gavriel Kay Good luck finding this book. I came across it only because I was searching Amazon for another of his books, and realized that he had a new book out. Of course I’ve found a lot of books on Amazon recently that I saw nowhere in […]
Magician: Apprentice (1982), Magician: Master (1982) Raymond E. Feist I wanted something that I’d read before as my vacation wound down. For some reason, this book wasn’t as I remembered it. Not that it wasn’t good, only that it wasn’t what I wanted at the time. In retrospect, I think I was remembering The Empire […]
American Gods (2001) Neil Gaiman Sometimes, you just need to read something that you’ve read before and loved. After reading a bunch of new fantasy it was time to re-read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. In some ways, American Gods is the perfect novel for me; It combines mythology and folklore, two of my favorite subjects. […]
The Liveship Traders Trilogy Ship of Magic (1998) The Mad Ship (1999) Ship of Destiny (2000) Robin Hobb The most frustrating thing about this series, is that I didn’t particularly like any of the characters. The story was great, the writing was great, but not only were there characters that I really liked and was […]
The Tawny Man series Fool’s Errand (2002), Golden Fool (2003), Fool’s Fate (2004) Robin Hobb I have two problems with really good books. The first problem is that once I start reading I don’t want to stop–eating, sleeping, everything is secondary to the book. The second problem is that when I finish a book or […]
Legends II (2004) edited by Robert Silverberg I picked up this book just for the Neil Gaiman Shadow story, so the fact that I found it in the bargain bin means that any stories beyond ‘The Monarch of the Glen’ were an added bonus. And ‘Monarch of the Glen’ was good. Very good. It made […]
Thieves’ World: Enemies of Fortune (2004) edited by Lynn Abbey I still haven’t completely decided how I feel about this series. The stories are good, and I enjoy them, but they’re not quite the old ‘Thieves’ World’ and I’m not quite sure what it is that’s missing. As I said, the stories are excellent–Lynn Abbey […]
Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword And Sorceress XXI edited by Diana L. Paxson I wasn’t sure that I was going to get the 21st edition of Sword And Sorceress. MZB died, and so I wasn’t certain whether the anthology was going to be continued because it was a quality anthology, or because they were looking to […]
Year’s Best Fantasy (2001) edited by David G. Hartwell I’m a sucker for short story collections–I love short stories, and fantasy collections are my favorite, so if I come across a collection, I usually buy it. This has, of course, led to some rather poor choices, such as “The Sorcerer’s Academy” and “Earth, Air, Fire, […]
Thomas the Rhymer (1990) Ellen Kushner I thoroughly enjoyed Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint, so I was excited when I saw that Thomas the Rhymer was being re-released. Thomas the Rhymer is one of the books that managed to be precisely what I want to read. The tale is of Thomas the Rhymer, minstrel who falls for […]
The Faery Reel edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling Any time I see a fantasy anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, I’ll often as not pick it up, because I know that it’s going to be good. Usually very good. This volume however, has the added bonus of poems by both Charles […]
The Death Gate Cycle Dragon Wing, Elven Star, Fire Sea, Serpent Mage, Into the Labyrinth, The Hand of Chaos, The Seventh Gate by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman It had been years since I’d read the Death Gate cycle, mostly because 7 books is a lot to read for someone who has to complete an […]
Waifs and Strays (2002) Charles de Lint Charles de Lint’s latest short story collection is not as much for young adults as it is about young adults. As I recognized several titles in this collection from other collections, I hadn’t been in a hurry to get this collection. That was my mistake. Only the last […]
The Legend of Nightfall Mickey Zucker Reichert Nightfall, the legendary assassin, has taken his name from the children’s song that warns about the danger of the night. A master of disguise, he survives by his wits, but survives primarily, despite is small size, because of his natural talent. A talent coveted by sorcerers who methods […]
Men at Arms, Soul Music, Interesting Times, Hogfather Terry Pratchett Men at Arms I’m rather fond of the night watch. Captain Vimes is getting ready to retire, and not only must they find his successor, they need to discover who broke into to Assassin’s headquarters, discover what was stolen, and find out who or what […]
The Lions of Al-Rassan (1995) Guy Gavriel Kay This is a very good, albeit very depressing book. Set in the same world as Sailing to Sarantium, this book describes the battles between the followers of Jad versus the Asharites. If Sailing to Sarantium reminded me of Rome, this book reminded me of Spain. Of the […]
Witches Abroad, Mort, Wyrd Sisters, Small Gods, Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett Mort (1987) Death takes an apprentice. The horse entered the square by the Hub road, steam curling off its huge damp white flanks and sparks striking up from the cobbles beneath it. It trotted proudly, like a war charger. It was definitely […]
The Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors Guy Gavriel Kay On a note unrelated to the story, I do have to say that I greatly prefer the Canadian cover art to the American. That’s the problem with thorough websites. You get to find out what you’re missing. I’ve had these books for […]
Red Slippers Dennis McKiernan This compilation of short stories should be the final Mithgar book. As Dennis McKiernan says in the beginning, there were some loose ends that he wanted to go back and tie up, or explain, or stories that were mentioned in passing that he wanted to mention in greater detail. For this […]
The Fall of the Kings (2002) Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman This book is set in the same world as Swordspoint, about two generations later. The story begins at the University, where Basil St Cloud is a young Doctor of History at the University. It is there that he meets Theron Campion, son of the […]
Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners (1987) Ellen Kushner This is a marvelous book. Richard St Vier is a swordsman in a time and places where nobles hire swordsmen to fight their duels and to make points of honor. The system was originally created to formalize dueling, and to, one imagines, reduce the number of deaths […]
Kingmaker’s Sword, The Western King, Broken Blade by Ann Marston Harper (1996, 1996, 1997) This series falls victim to the good first book problem. The first book is very good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The problem is that the rest of the series, while good, did not really live up to the first book. […]
Discworld by Terry Pratchett Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Faust Eric, Reaper Man I’ve been re-reading Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, mostly because they’re funny, and a quick read. I know I’m missing quite a few books, but I’m buying them when I find them. Pyramids ROC (1999) Teppic, son of the pharaoh of the Kingdom of the […]
The Vlad Taltos Novels by Steven Brust Longer reviews for individual books can be found on my Steven Brust page. When I recommend fantasy books, this series is at the top of my list. The books are relatively quick to read, and is written in the tone is that of a hard boiled mystery. And […]
Sethra Lavode: Book Three of the Viscount of Adrilankha by Steven Brust Tor (2004) The conclusion to the Viscount of Adrilankha series finishes the story of Empress Zerika’s restoration of the Empire and the final end of the Interregnum. It also continues the story of Piro (the actual Viscount for whom these tales are named), […]
The Sandman Book of Dreams Neil Gaiman and Ed Kramer, editors It took me several months to read this book, not because it was boring, but because I was carrying it back and forth to work to read at lunch, or if I had to go somewhere for an appointment. This means that as I […]
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer Another children’s/young adult book, and a pretty good one at that, although I didn’t find it quite as interesting as either Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials or Garth Nix’s Sabriel. It was still good, and I liked the fact that the protagonist is an antihero. Ostensibly, no good qualities, although […]
Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith Originally published as Crown Duel and Court Duel. Great writing, great characters, great story. (Even realistic cover art!) Unfortunately it was written as a romance. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with romance per se, nor is there anything wrong with romantic elements within a story, but I […]
Lord of Castle Black, Book Two of The Viscount of Adrilankha, by Steven Brust Tor (2003) I knew that it was going to be a good book when I was laughing out loud reading the first page of the introduction. “We have been informed by those to whom we have entrusted our manuscript for publication […]
Spirits in the Wires by Charles de Lint Spirits in the Wires is the story of the Wordwood, the literary internet site set up by Holly and others that has taken on a life of its own. Saskia Madding is an independent being, created by the Wordwood, and sent out into the World As We […]
The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint The only author I possibly like more than Steven Brust, is Charles de Lint. There is nothing he has written that I have not liked, and most of what he has written I really love. Despite that, and despite buying this book over a year ago, I had […]
Paper Mage by Leah R. Cutter Xiao Yen, hero of Paper Mage is a dutiful daughter, dutiful niece, and practicing paper mage. The book is set in the Tang Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom (China about the time of the European Middle Ages), and the magic is quite unlike any I have previously read. Parts […]
Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen by Garth Nix I’d been looking Sabriel for awhile but hadn’t picked it up to read, mostly because I already have too many books I’ll read when I have time to get around to it, but I read some positive comments about the books, and decided to read them over the break. […]
The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman I picked these up because I had heard good things about them, because they were supposedly ‘Young Adult’ books and thus a fast read for me, and because all three books of the trilogy were out and available. Importance not necessarily in that […]
Paths of the Dead by Steven Brust Tor (2002) I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and am considering buying the next book in the series in hardback, just so I don’t have to wait. (I hate waiting.) Still undecided on that, though, because as I have said once or twice before, I am partial to paperback […]