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Voyage of the Shadowmoon
by
Sean McMullen
Sean McMullen, one of Australia's leading genre writers, took America by storm with his sweeping Greatwinter Trilogy, a post-apocalyptic science fiction tour de force that won over critics and readers alike. Now McMullen delivers Voyage of the Shadowmoon, a fantasy epic of daunting skill and scope. The Shadowmoon is a small, unobtrusive wooden schooner whose passengers and crew are much more than they seem: Ferran, the Shadowmoon's lusty captain who dreams of power; Roval, the warrior-sorcerer; Velander and Terikel, priestesses of a nearly extinct sect; and the chivalrous vampire Laron, who has been trapped in a fourteen-year-old body for seven hundred years. They sail the coast, gathering useful information, passing as simple traders. But when they witness the awful power of Silverdeath, an uncontrollable doomsday weapon of awesome destructiveness, they realize they must act. But every single king, emperor, and despot covets Silverdeath's power. It will take all of their wits and more than a little luck if they hope to prevent one of these power-hungry fools from destroying the world. Their only advantage? The Shadowmoon. While it seems to be little more that a small trading vessel--too small for battle, too fat for speed-it is actually one of the most sophisticated vessels in the world, one that allows them to travel to places where no others would dare. They can only hope it will be enough to save them all before Silverdeath rains destruction across their entire world. |
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The Fifth Sorceress
by
Robert Newcomb
Newcomb may be a newcomer to fantasy writing, but it doesn't show in this surprisingly original doorstopper. After wreaking all sorts of havoc in the kingdom of Eutracia, the evil sorceresses of the Coven were overcome and exiled by the wizards of the Protectorate. Now, 327 years later, Eutracian females are forbidden to practice magic, and males are made to swear a solemn oath to stay on the side of light and good. Across the ocean in Parthalon, the sorceresses still live, plotting to kidnap Princess Shailiha from Eutracia and use her to complete an incantation that will make them all-powerful or destroy the world. Prince Tristan, Shailiha's brother and our protagonist, is perhaps the most cookie-cutter of the characters, a classic reluctant hero who'd rather wave a sword than sit on the throne. But the wizard Wigg, Tristan's companion and adviser, is no caricature of the omnipotent magical sidekick: he makes incorrect guesses and poor decisions and often fails to keep the headstrong prince in check. This isn't done for comic relief, but to put Newcomb firmly in the George R.R. Martin camp of realistic fantasy as he creates a world where fully realized characters die, everyone is in the dark about something and sometimes things simply go wrong for no reason at all. Thanks to the author's passion for tying up loose ends, the finish is neat, but it leaves you wanting more. Fortunately, the planned sequels (at least two) will provide that, as well as ample room for further character development. |
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Tigana
by
Guy Gavriel Kay
Drawing on the most powerful mythic archetypes, this master epic of magic, politics, war--and the power of love and hate--is a rich, beautifully written, multidimensional work. The few surviving inhabitants of the destroyed land of Tigana bond together in a secret battle to release their homeland's curse and gain their freedom. |
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Transformation
by
Carol Berg
"Transformation" is a one-of-a-kind fantasy that is so believable, it almost falls into the category of historical fiction. The only book I can compare it to is Mary Renault's classic, "The Persian Boy" which is the story of Alexander the Great as narrated by his slave, Bagoas. Now, imagine Bagoas as transformed into the slave, Seyonne who was once a mighty wizard and Warden against demonkind. The 'Alexander the Great' character is Prince Aleksander who is heir-apparent to an Empire that could have been founded by Harun al-Rashid, and Berg's mixture of 'Arabian Nights', demons, and wizardry is darn-near perfect. "Transformation" develops logically from the growth and interaction of its two main characters, Aleksander and Seyonne, but I wasn't noticing reviewerly items like 'character development' while I was reading it. Berg has crafted such an interesting world that I was reading purely to see what happened next. Magic flowed believably from character, which is the hallmark of a really good fantasy, and "Transformation" is one of the best I've read in a long time. A wonderful, wizardly love story is revealed as an integral part of plot, as the reader gradually learns more about the Wardens and their struggle to protect humanity from demonkind. "Transformation" was published in August, 2000 and I can only hope that the author is hard at work on another, equally engrossing fantasy |
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Interlopers
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Alan Dean Foster Archaeologist Cody Westcott is onto something-something that is causing random acts of badness. Something ancient, something evil, something...hungry. We are not alone, but we're about to wish we were. Alan Dean Foster gives explains why misery and suffering exists. It is the fault of the Interlopers, beings from another dimension who exist by feeding off misery and evil itself. The main character drinks a solution that allows him to see these creatures, and the story takes off. The story line is fast-paced and will keep you turning page after page. |
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The Descent
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Jeff Long In a high Himalayan cave, among the death pits of Bosnia, in a newly excavated Java temple, Long's characters find out to their terror that humanity is not alone--that, as we have always really known, horned and vicious humanoids lurk in vast caverns beneath our feet. This audacious remaking of the old hollow-earth plot takes us, in no short order, to the new world regime that follows the genocidal harrowing of Hell by heavily armed, high-tech American forces. An ambitious tycoon sends an expedition of scientists, including a beautiful nun linguist and a hideously tattooed commando former prisoner of Hell, ever deeper into the unknown, among surviving, savage, horned tribes and the vast citadels of the civilizations that fell beneath the earth before ours arose. A conspiracy of scholars pursues the identity of the being known as Satan, coming up with unpalatable truths about the origins of human culture and the identity of the Turin Shroud, and are picked off one by bloody one. Long rehabilitates, madly, the novel of adventures among lost peoples--occasional clumsiness and promises of paranoid revelations on which he cannot entirely deliver fail to diminish the real achievement here; this feels like a story we have always known and dreaded. |
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Weaveworld: An Epic Adventure of the Imagination
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Clive Barker I have just finished reading Weaveworld for the third time and still find myself at a loss for words to capture its brilliance. Really, it defies explanation. Barker has created what I consider to be one of his greatest novels, heck! it's almost THE greatest novel. Its immensity allows its creator to use every aspect of great story telling to leave you feeling like you've just experienced something divine. It is an epic adventure of monumental proportions into a great secret world called 'The Fugue', that has been hidden away in order to elude its notorious enemies. Following the exploits of the two main characters, Cal and Suzanna, it tells us how they unravel (literally) the secrets behind the Weaveworld. This brings them into contact with some of Barkers most timeless and unforgettable characters, more notably so Immacolata and her side-kick the shifty salesman Shadwell. Mysterious, magical, loveable and terrifying - this book has it all. I particulaly love this book because of 'The Orchard of Lemuel Lo', with its entertaining magic and Jude Pears. A part of the book Clive Barker based on a early personal experience. It's just such a great chapter, magical in its peculiarities and believable by its veracity. There are moments of exquisite tenderness and poetry in this book and moments that will have you practically tearing the page to turn it and find the answers to the many questions Barker poses throughout. The story will take you beyond reality, beyond fiction, beyond poetry and beyond fantasy to deliver you to an ambience that will intice, elate and overwhealm you. You will truly wish the story to never end, which in a way it never does - you have to experience it to understand. Suffice it to say Weaveworld is Heaven of a different form, only read it if you have plenty of breath to catch, tears to cry and imagination to be inspired, stretched and truly amazed. |
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War for the Oaks
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Emma Bull Emma Bull's debut novel, War for the Oaks, placed her in the top tier of urban fantasists and established a new subgenre. Unlike most of the rock & rollin' fantasies that have ripped off Ms. Bull's concept, War for the Oaks is well worth reading. Intelligent and skillfully written, with sharply drawn, sympathetic characters, War for the Oaks is about love and loyalty, life and death, and creativity and sacrifice.Eddi McCandry has just left her boyfriend and their band when she finds herself running through the Minneapolis night, pursued by a sinister man and a huge, terrifying dog. The two creatures are one and the same: a phouka, a faerie being who has chosen Eddi to be a mortal pawn in the age-old war between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Eddi isn't interested--but she doesn't have a choice. Now she struggles to build a new life and new band when she might not even survive till the first rehearsal. War for the Oaks won the Locus Magazine award for Best First Novel and was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Society Award. |
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The Curse of Chalion
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Lois McMaster Bujold Betrayed by an unknown enemy into slavery, former soldier and courtier Lupe dy Cazaril escapes his bondage and returns to the royal household he once served. Entrusted with the teaching of the sister to the heir to the throne of Chalion, Cazaril finds himself drawn into a tangled web of politics and dark magic as he battles a curse that threatens the lives and souls of a family he has come to love. The author of the "Vorkosigan" series of dynastic sf turns her hand as competently and engagingly to the fantasy genre in a tale of quiet heroism and self-sacrifice. Compelling characters and richly detailed world building make this a strong addition to fantasy collections. |