Cover Blurb:
     It is AD 2380, and humanity has colonised over six hundred planets, all interlinked by wormholes. With Earth at its centre, the Intersolar Commonwealth has grown into a quiet, wealthy society, where rejuvenation allows its citizens to live for centuries.
     When astronomer Dudley Bose observes a star over a thousand light years away vanish, imprisoned inside a force field of immense size, the Commonwealth is anxious to discover what actually happened. As conventional wormholes can't reach that far, they must build the first faster-than-light starship. Captained by Wilson Kime, an ex-NASA astronaut a little too eager to relive his old glory days, the Second Chance sets off on its historic voyage of discovery.
     But someone or something out there must have had a very good reason for sealing off an entire star system. And if the Second Chance finds a way in, what might be let out?

I find myself in two minds about this book. It's good, very good in fact. The prose is easy to read, the science doesn't bog the reader down too much and Hamilton's created worlds and alien species are well done. But it is very long. I've just read 1000+ pages, something I find to be pretty hard work these days, and the story has really only just begun, with everything poised for the next 1000+ pages that is the sequel, Judas Unchained. I guess I feel a little cheated, that I did all that work and it all proved to be set up for the next book.

All the same, I really liked it. After I write this I'm heading to the library website to order the sequel. I want to know what happens and how everything turns out. I like the future Hamilton has created and the civilisation and I want to see it survive and move forward again. I like the characters, even the ones I don't like, and I want to know how things turn out for them.

Hamilton has created a world that feels solid to me. I didn't study it in detail to figure out how possible or realistic it was, but at the causal reading level I was doing, it all seemed to hold together. I liked a lot of his ideas and the way he's used them. The idea of the main transport system in the entire Commonwealth being trains really appealed to me. It makes sense too. If everything is connected by wormholes, having everything set up around station yards and train tracks works nicely. I do get the feeling that air transport may make more of a comeback however, as the attack on the Commonwealth continues and more spaceships are built. The whole concept of rejuvenation and stored memories is clever, as is the way the concept of death has changed due to secure stored memories and re-life procedures. When a character who did not have those secured memories was killed at the end of the book, I suddenly found myself as shocked as the characters in the pages that he was now permanently and finally dead.

The aliens from the Dyson Sphere were suitably strange and very disturbing. I'm hoping the Commonwealth soon figures out that there will be no negotiation and get themselves organised with regard to their own protection. The other aliens are all interesting, and while I can't comment on the potential accuracy of them or the various other planets visited, nothing was so glaring it tossed me out of the story.

I did have some pacing issues, but I'm not sure if that was actually bad pacing, or if it was just that it was such a long book. We went so far back in some of the set-up that at first many things seemed to have absolutely no connection to anything else. Some are still that way, although I can see more congregations happening in the sequel. Probably the one that seemed to have the most convoluted set up was all the details of the forty year old murder, that was all there to set up Mellanie and her connection to the SI. Once it started coming together, I was okay with it, and it was rather clever that an apparently unimportant side character in the saga was actually the one we would continue following through the book.

So I guess I can see why Hamilton did it as he did, and overall he did it well, but I still have a slight sense of being cheated in that I read so much, only to be left ready to read another book rather than being finished with this one. At least I enjoyed the ride.

Cover Blurb:
     Acclaimed fantasy author Tanya Huff returns to entertaining fantasy territory with this first novel in a new trilogy-featuring a popular character from her acclaimed Blood series. Tony, a former street kid-turned-producer, is behind a new TV series about a vampire detective. But what is real and what is fantasy? The answers are to be found in a wizard who's come to Earth from another dangerous dimension...and he's been followed.

I find Tanya Huff a mixed bag. I liked all the Vicki Nelson books (even if some of the themes did get a bit disturbing by the time we got to Huff's riff on Frankenstein's monster) and the first Keeper book. I found the second in that series so-so and never finished the third. Most of her others haven't done anything special for me, although I did like her early pair of books about Crystal. All of this meant I ordered Smoke and Shadows when it came out, but didn't rush to read it.

This is sort of a spin-off from the Vicki Nelson books in that it is about Tony, who moved to Vancouver with Henry after he moved on to leave the Toronto territory to Vicki. It's five years later now and Tony has moved out of Henry's place and is trying to make his own space in the world. He's working as a PA on the set of a syndicated TV show about - wait for it - a vampire detective. Tony was only a minor character in Vicki's books, but I liked him when we turned up and it is nice to see him finding himself now. The scars of his past haven't vanished, but he's dealt with a lot of them and the things he learned on the Toronto streets and in company of first Vicki and then Henry are going to help him out as he finds himself having his own mystical adventures.

Ignore the blurb above; since the wizard in question is a she rather than a he and Tony is a pretty low-level member of the production crew, I wonder if the person who wrote it even read the book. Henry is less of a presence here; he's a main character, but he's playing second fiddle to Tony - something he probably wouldn't appreciate if he knew about it. The secondary characters are all well drawn, although some are more fleshed out that others. The wizard, Arra, is a nicely motivated character even if those motives are less than pure and the more realistic for it.

This was a good, solid and enjoyable read. It was nice to see familiar character again, and better that their previous adventures had changed them enough that they were also new characters at the same time. There are a few pop-culture references that readers may or may not get (I did like Tony's comment that with everything that was happening and likely to happen, he had a lot more sympathy now with Buffy the Vampire Slayer's season six version of Buffy Summers) but they don't overwhelm the story enough to be annoying. This was part of my summer reading and it has been perfect for that. While there are references back to the Vicki books, you don't need to have read them (although they are worth the time), so get out and give this one a go.

Cover Blurb:
     Poor Meg Langslow. She’s blessed in so many ways. Michael, her boyfriend, is a handsome, delightful heartthrob who adores her. She’s a successful blacksmith, known for her artistic wrought-iron creations. But somehow Meg’s road to contentment is more rutted and filled with potholes than seems fair.
     There are Michael’s and Meg’s doting but demanding mothers, for a start. And then there’s the fruitless hunt for a place big enough for the couple to live together. And a succession of crises brought on by the well-meaning but utterly wacky demands of her friends and family. Demands that Meg has a hard time refusing---which is why she’s tending the switchboard of Mutant Wizards, where her brother’s computer games are created, and handling all the office management problems that no one else bothers with. For companionship, besides a crew of eccentric techies, she has a buzzard with one wing---who she must feed frozen mice thawed in the office microwave---and Michael’s mother’s nightmare dog. Not to mention the psychotherapists who refuse to give up their lease on half of the office space, and whose conflicting therapies cause continuing dissension. This is not what Meg had in mind when she agreed to help her brother move his staff to new offices.
     In fact, the atmosphere is so consistently loony that the office mail cart makes several passes through the reception room, with the office practical joker lying on top of it pretending to be dead, before Meg realizes that he’s become the victim of someone who wasn’t joking at all. He’s been murdered for real.

I think this series is great fun. They're a quick, funny read with a decent mystery. Certainly, iI didn't peg the murderer - although I have to admit that I don't actually try when reading mysteries these days. I'm along for the ride, not the mental exercise and I just want to enjoy the book, not have to do any work.

I actually think the greatest weakness of this book was the lack of Meg's crazy family. They take things up a notch or two and having only her dad and Rob present toned things down a lot. Rob as the accidental corporate computer guru was a nice joke; knowing him as we do from the days he was creating Lawyers from Hell back in Murder with Peacocks, the awe given to him by his staff is rather funny. When it gets turned on Meg as well (the original 'Judge Hammer' - snicker) that's a lovely touch. I felt the lack of Michael, who works as a good foil for Meg and his presence only via cell phone was a disappointment.

I have collected my favourite recent quote from this book. Living with an it guru of my own who is often late at work as they upgrade the latest piece of software, I was delighted by this:

A build, I'd learned in the last two weeks, was an important recurring event in companies that developed computer software. As far as I could understand, it meant that Jack, as team leader, told everybody to stop messing around with their parts of the program - yes, right now dammit, not in half an hour - and launched a two-hour semiautomated process that was as temperamental as cooking a soufflé.

I just love the temperamental soufflé part, which Dave assures me is an accurate description.

Cover Blurb:
     Seven years ago Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered -- and all had the same odd markings that mysteriously appeared on her own skin...
     Since then, she's learned to read, she's learned to fight and she's become one of the vaunted Hawks who patrol and police the City of Elantra. Alongside the winged Aerians and immortal Barrani, she's made a place for herself, far from the mean streets of her birth.
     But children are once again dying, and a dark and familiar pattern is emerging, Kaylin is ordered back into Nightshade with a partner she knows she can't trust, a Dragon lord for a companion and a device to contain her powers -- powers that no other human has. Her task is simple -- find the killer, stop the murders... and survive the attentions of those who claim to be her allies!

I liked this book, despite the low rating I've given in. The main character is solidly developed and likeable, the secondary characters and varied and different (although I found Severn, the lead human male character, to be less well created and kind of boring) the story is interesting and the world and its inhabitants fascinating. I read it steadily and wanted to know what was going to happen next. I'm also still interested in reading the next in the series.

However, I felt things were just a little vague. That or my understanding was lacking. There were lots of good ideas, but exactly what was going on and what the world was like never felt exactly clear to me. The characters kept exchanging meaningful looks that told each other volumes, but the implications weren't clear enough for me to get it too, so that I only ever felt I got the drift of the story rather than the depth of it. I know my illness means I have a really terrible memory, but I'm not stupid and I usually understand what I'm reading.

That said, there were plent of things I did like, I just want to be more confident I jumped to the right conclusions, and I'm not left with that feeling. The races and history of the Empire gave hints of being very interesting, but it was never spelled out clearly enough for me to fell I know how it actually works. The author dropped us into the deep end of her world and set about explaining how it worked in context without ever spelling it out. This is a laudable idea - I like a blatant infodump as little as the next reader - but things never got clear enough for me to be certain I had understood.

The idea of the magic and the point of the symbols was a good one and I want to know more about it. The idea that the power came from names and the power of language without language was clever, but since we mere mortals are limited the language and the story is told with that language, I felt the idea wasn't quite pulled off.

I guess, the low rating comes from frustration. This book had great ideas and could have been fantastic instead of just good if things had been a little clearer - or if I'm a litte dense. I'm willing to accept it might have been my faulty brain instead of the author. I'd be interested to hear from others who have read the book if they agree or think I'm totally off track.

As mentioned above, I also found Severn kind of bland. The other characters were much more interesting, especially Lord Nightshade. I think I'll be reading the next one if only to find out more about him and what he might want with Kaylin.

So, for me, this was a good book with flaws that stopped it from being a great book.

Cover Blurb:
     Grace Carlyle's world was about to change... Deep in the jungle on the trail of her missing brother, Grace never expected to find a secret world populated by mythological monsters -- nor guarded by a sword-wielding being whose beauty put mortal men to shame.
     Darius en Kragin belongs to a race of shape-shifting warriors sworn to guard Atlantis and kill all travelers who stray within its boundaries. Yet when Grace stumbles into his realm, he finds himself tempted to betray his centuries-old vow.
     Now their forbidden love will either bring their worlds together -- or tear them both apart.

I don't have a lot to say about this book really. It was a pleasant read, but it was standard romance fare really and didn't have anything about it that set it specifically above anything else.

Cover Blurb:
     Independent trader Trilby Elliot is making some not-quite-legal modifications to her starfreighter, when an unexpected visitor falls out of space. Literally. He’s crashed onto the uninhabited planet of Avanar in a crippled ’Sko fighter – the last place you’d expect to find a Zafharin military officer because the ’Sko and the Zafharin have been at war as long as Trilby can remember.
     Rhis Vanur is your typically arrogant Zafharin. But to Trilby’s surprise, he doesn’t look down on her or her slapdash ship. Still, Trilby’s learned the hard way that even though she found Rhis, she can’t keep him. She’s just a low-budget jump jockey as far as men like him are concerned. She’s not falling for his offer to help ... until Port Rumor reports her best friend missing and Trilby learns that the ’Sko are hunting both her and Rhis. Now they’re in it together for better, for worse–or till death blasts them to oblivion...

I loved this book. Sure, I'd class it as brain candy reading - something to savour when I don't want to concentrate too hard. But it's brilliant brain candy.

Cover Blurb:
     From an extraordinary new voice in fantasy comes the stunning conclusion to the Farseer trilogy, as FitzChivalry confronts his destiny as the catalyst who holds the fate of the kingdom of the Six Duchies ... and the world itself. King Shrewd is dead at the hands of his son Regal. As is Fitz--or so his enemies and friends believe. But with the help of his allies and his beast magic, he emerges from the grave, deeply scarred in body and soul. The kingdom also teeters toward ruin: Regal has plundered and abandoned the capital, while the rightful heir, Prince Verity, is lost to his mad quest--perhaps to death. Only Verity's return--or the heir his princess carries--can save the Six Duchies. But Fitz will not wait. Driven by loss and bitter memories, he undertakes a quest: to kill Regal. The journey casts him into deep waters, as he discovers wild currents of magic within him--currents that will either drown him or make him something more than he was....

Cover Blurb:
     At Buckkeep, King Shrewd lies dying, attended only the by the faithful, enigmatic Fool; King in Waiting Verity spends all his time Skilling to befuddle and bemuse the dreaded Red Ship Raiders, while his beautiful, neglected wife, Kettricken, wanders disconsolately. Young FitzChivalry, still ailing after his previous mission, tries to serve both Shrewd and Verity while seeking ways to frustrate the vaulting ambitions of Shrewd's youngest son, the viperous Prince Regal. Shrewd, meantime, has forbidden poor Fitz to marry his beloved Molly, a commoner. Fitz also possesses the Wit, an ability to talk to and empathize with animals, and he bonds with a young wolf he rescues from cruel captivity. Verity builds his own warships, but still can't defeat the Raiders--and the weaker Verity grows, the more the people listen to Regal's treacherous murmurings. Finally, Verity goes into the mountains seeking the Elderlings, a godlike race that helped a previous Farseer king to defeat the Raiders, leaving Fitz to protect Kettricken and Shrewd.

The more I read of this series, the more I love it. These are good strong characters in a well-created world, living a good story. I found reading this volume hard, not because it is a bad book - indeed, the opposite is true - but because I felt such empathy for the characters, especially Fitz, and I didn't want to have to suffer through the events of the book with them.

I found myself caught in that in-between place where I both wanted desperately to read more, but at the same time I was afraid of what was going to happen next. This got me thinking about trilogies. I think the second book in a trilogy has a tendency to go one of two ways.

1. The story continues but doesn't really progress so that the third book can wrap things up. I recent example of this was "Eldest" by Christopher Paolini. I loved the book, but I'm more than willing to admit that on one level, all that happened was that characters got moved around the board a few times until they were in place for the last book.

2. Things just get worse and worse with no hope of improvement, because they won't start getting better until we're heading for a resolution in book three. So book two tends to be all about reaching rock bottom. Often, you can be fairly certain that if anything good happens in the first half of book two, it's going to have to go all wrong by the end. It may come right again in book three, but there are no promises.

"Royal Assassin" is a #2 kind of book. It's a fantastic book, but I hated being at the stage where I knew bad stuff was going to happen and I, as I said, I still needed to suffer through it with the characters before we could all start coming out the other side and hopefully get some kind of happy ending.

This is a great book, but it is very hard on the emotions. I'm now reading the last book in the trilogy, eager to know how it is all going to work out. I happily recommend this entire series to anyone who is looking for an excellent, solid fantasy.

Cover Blurb:
     This pleasant read by a new writer tells the story of Reisil. Once an orphan, taunted by the other children in her village, she is now a newly minted healer, hoping to find a secure place in a world that has known sporadic fighting for years. But the lady she serves chooses her to be ahalad-kaaslane, or a wandering judge-warrior-explorer bound through a companion animal to no one but the lady. Afraid of losing her newly won security to go adventuring, Reisil refuses the honor and the companion goshawk. She picks a bad time, however. The leaders of the warring lands have agreed to a truce as a preliminary to ending the war, but many who have suffered on both sides regard the truce as a betrayal. Moreover, Reisil's decision threatens the truce.

Cover Blurb:
     Fitz, who is often called the "Boy" or the "Bastard," was begotten by good Prince Chivalry upon some "peasant" woman. At age six, he is given over to the safekeeping of the prince's man, Burrich. Fitz's impolitic existence causes the prince to abdicate his claim to the throne, and he and his wife leave the court, and the boy, behind. Fitz has inherited the "Skill," a mind-bending talent, and also has the ability to meld his thoughts with those of nonhuman creatures and to mentally "repel" physical advances. When Fitz finally comes to King Shrewd's attention, he is given over to the Royal Assassin's tutelage and trained to carry out the king's devious plans.

I've known for a long time that Robin Hobb's books are meant to be good, but I've always been distracted by other things and never taken the time to read them. Having [ffseries] reading the last of this first trilogy at the end of the month has been a good reason to finally taken them off the shelf and get on with it.

I am very, very glad I did. This is a solid, well put together fantasy without getting so dense I get overwhelmed by it all (one of the reasons I haven't yet tried George R. R. Martin's books which I also understand are excellent). Fitz is an engaging character, which is a triumph considering he starts as a lost six year-old and passes through phases of whiny childhood and adolescence. At one point he calls himself a catalyst for the Six Duchies, and I certainly think that is true. There is a feeling of fate tossing him into his life and situations more than he ever chooses them for himself. Still, despite everything he turns out pretty well.

By the end of the book, as everything and everyone seemed to be conspiring against him, I was very worried about him despite knowing he's got two more books in this trilogy to go and possibly several more futher along in Hobb's booklist. I was muttering, "Boy Fitz, you've really been set up" as things seemed to go from bad to worse. Fortunately, he's still around at the end of the book and I hope he gets a bit of rest before the start of the second in the trilogy, as I get the impression the bad stuff is far from over yet.

I liked the concepts of both the Wit and the Skill, although I really don't see that the ultimate danger of the Wit is any worse than that of Skill, so why one should be abhorred and the other praised continues to puzzle me. After reading the page of blurb for Royal Assassin at the back of this book, I do get the impression that may be further developed as the trilogy progresses.

I find Hobb's villain of the piece to be particularly disturbing, not because he's all out evil and crazy with it, but because he's petulant, vain, selfish and ruthless with all of it. He's going to cause a lot of grief simply because he can't see beyond his own wants, hates and self-importance and for me, that's often the scariest kind of evil of all.

I'm taking a break to read a different book next because I hate it when I know bad stuff is going to happen and I'm pretty sure it is here, but I'll be back to read the next in the series after that because I really need to know what happens next to Fitz, Verity, Chade and all the others.