A Sumptuous, Murderous World
593824
I always feel kind of embarrassed that I can read in two hours what an author like Rowan Malloy has obviously poured his heart, soul, and considerable intelligence into, but in this case, I couldn't help myself. Like Alice following the white rabbit down into a wonderland, I could barely keep up with this fast-moving plot. It kept disappearing just in front of me, appearing and reappearing so tantalizingly that I pretty much read it straight through without a break.

And what a ride it is! The protagonists are hot, hot, hot and the alternative world they are negotiating together is as sumptuous as it is murderous. This is high fantasy at its best: light a fire, open a box of bon-bons and fall down the rabbit hole into another world. After all: isn't that what a great read is all about?
3943019
(No spoilers)
This is a world-building volume where you are introduced to a world where there are plenty of adventures.  This is not a story for those who like cozy adventures (it says something about this particular world that goblin abduction is the least of the peasantry's worries and this book still reads convincingly like a horror novel).  The protagonist (but not necessarily the viewpoint character) is aptly named, and the book spends the time building the world and his place in it.

Again, this book has elements of real (nonsarcastic) horror presented as a daily ritual.  This is not for young children (<10), but the writing is very much worth reading at any age above that.
272603
You wake up on what seems like a normal day, and flick on the news as you're getting ready to roll. Suddenly, the screen is filled with scenes of death and destruction. You stare horrified as hundreds, maybe thousands, of people are dying right before your eyes. Even though this is happening in some foreign land, you're still mesmerized by the vision.

No, we're not talking hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons or other "natural" disasters; nor are we dealing with human terrorists, of whatever ethnic stripe. Welcome to the world of The Immune, a fascinating near-future adventure novel by Doc Lucky Meisenheimer. Taking one part H. G Wells, several bits of Robert Heinlein and a few echoes of Orwell, Huxley and other dystopian visionaries, he's created an allegory that encompasses the 09/11 attacks, environmental mutation fears, government corruption and man-against-the-State, producing a stunning page-turner in the process.

For more: [...]
3090572
In the world of Ink, Iron, and Glass, makers of things--whether they are clockwork robots, Cthulhu-esue pets, or entire worlds--are powerful people.  But the most dangerous of them can blur the lines between clanking gears, fizzing chemicals, and a form of writing-cum-programming and become a truly dangerous "polymath," both feared and respected. Happily, the characters are as deep and interesting as the world building, and this first book both satisfies and makes me eager for the next in the series!
275320
Bannerless is a post-apocalyptic murder mystery that works well as a post-apocalypse, somewhat less so as a murder mystery. Carrie Vaughns strengths as a writer  her powerful visuals, compelling characters, and intricate worldbuilding  serve this novel well.
Set in a future after the Fall, Vaughn imagines this new world as a network of communities that follow strict guidelines to ensure that scant resources aren't overtaxed. Population control is the most essential feature of this world. Women are fitted with birth control implants to curtail unsanctioned pregnancies, and households are only allowed to bear children once they earn a banner by proving their ability to be highly productive (and law abiding) members of society. As one might expect, these banners are a great source of pride for the households that obtain them, but are also a source of resentment and disaffection for the bannerless.
Enid is an investigator whose jurisdiction includes all manner of crimes and violations, and the main plot of the novel involves her and her partner Tomas trying to determine if a grisly death in the town of Pasadan was an accident or murder. This story alternates with flashback chapters of Enid as a young woman, living an itinerant lifestyle with her musician lover Dak. In the present day storyline, Enid becomes emotionally conflicted when the long estranged Dak shows up as a member of the Pasadan community.
I preferred the flashback chapters of the novel, which explored in detail the way the communities function in this setting, and how difficult it is to function without one. You know how its going to end, by design, but the climax is thrilling and Enids final choice is both believable and heart-wrenching. The mystery story is a bit thin  by the end it feels like a short story padded out to novel length. The conclusion to the whodunnit is easy to predict halfway through, though the ending still manages to be emotionally satisfying and fits well into Vaughns theme of communities succeeding, or failing, together.
A solid book, despite its flaws.
3067536
William Cook is a talented writer. His prose and poetry are experiences any lover of art should be familiar with. So, when he brings his craft to create a family of killers, one should not be surprised to be drawn into a world of poetic ambiguity and stark prose. One gets lost in such a world; we see multiple perspectives on the same murderous events, from the media, an obsessed detective, and the kaleidoscopic views of killer twins, but what is real and what is fever dream? You'll learn soon enough, and the visceral reality that awaits will shock and fascinate you. I had to ask William if these were real serial killers. That's how real they appear in the book. It was a relief to find they were figments of Cook's provocative imagination. Enter this world at your own peril. Even though you know it's only fiction, you'll lock the door before reading just to feel safe. A guaranteed work of masterful horror.
2057010
Serendipity. Fate. Providence. Destiny. Words that describe the unpredictable, circuitous path of life. On the surface chaos rules, but when individual stories are pasted together, a pattern emerges; sometimes subtle, other times astounding. Bad things happen everywhere, but just as often, destruction breeds creation. In T. L. Hines' latest, four novellas tell separate yet joined tales connected at the smallest turns. It's a dark world, true enough. Many novels portray that. "Faces in the Fire" shows how that darkness serves to make even small glimmers of light brighter.

Kurt Marlowe is a truck driver. He's quiet. Withdrawn. Humble, and a hard worker. Also, after several years of driving, he inexplicably discovered an artistic talent that allows him to work at his leisure. Life is okay, considering he has no memory of his former life before walking into truck driving school several years ago, and that dead people's clothes talk to him.

That's what makes him pick up a hitcher named Corrine; a pair of dead man's shoes that keeps flashing visions of a burning catfish at him - a catfish tattooed on Corrine's arm. Corrine - a computer hacker and spammer dieing of cancer - got her tattoo at a parlor named "GraceSpace". Grace is a junkie who fled her husband and children years ago because of the Dead Blood in her veins. Then there's Stan, who can kill people by touch...until some strange junkie with Dead Blood in her veins touches him, canceling out his horrible gift with her blood.

In "Faces", Hines has created something unique that's also well-written and finely crafted. Though nonlinear and open-ended, "Faces" is also highly structured, because even though Hines may not have tied each story off, all of them are intricately connected. Those who want simple answers may find this frustrating. Others, however, will appreciate and enjoy Hines' effort at "art imitating life".
2304759
With a spare, clean writing style that manages to evoke a long-past era, the author takes us into a world of fear, desperation, superstition and an appalling misuse of religious belief that wreaks havoc on its victims. I was completely absorbed in this world of witch hunts that, sadly, keep revisiting the world in different eras, forms and from different sources.  The sympathetic character Gude Miller, aged to the point of cloudy thinking (dementia, we might now call it), acts suspiciously enough that others think she is a witch. One aspect of this novel that sets it above others in the genre is that the author takes us into Gude's confused thinking, and does so plausibly enough that even we aren't' sure what she is experiencing.  Thus we can accept, given the world of famine and dire need the author sets up, why others might suspect and, ultimately, accuse her. Chillingly, the story resonates today: although Europe does not condemn thousands to torture and death at the stake, there are plenty of recent manifestos of extremist believers that are about as chilling, and seemingly senseless, as the manual provided for the 15th century witch-hunts, Malleus Maleficarum. This book is not intended for children nor is it for the faint of heart, but its final pages provide a beautifully rendered scene of reconciliation and hope for a future, more accepting humanity. I strongly recommend this absorbing and meaningful book!
2492771
Phil Elmore slams us into a dirty cyberpunk world that shares much in common with both William Gibson and Clive Barker. I would classify this as techno-horror rather than pure action or sci-fi, though it certainly has elements of each. The action is violent. The descriptions of "mods" (augmented humans) blend the most horrific elements of H.R. Giger and Heironymus Bosch. Definitely not for those with a low tolerance for violence or gore. This novella is the first part of the story, and ends on a cliff-hanger with the main character still needing to solve the greater part of the mystery. I'll definitely be reading future installments.
1735631
A world where there is no limit to fascination, with heroes who'd rather be at home than making history. A place of wonder, of deep human feelings. A place full of great battles and magic, where the characters have their  own motivations and have to face their worst inner fears. Where the  temptation of power is enormous, and the line between good and evil is  sometimes too thin to see.  This is a story that can be read as many times  as you wish: you'll never get tired of it. This is more than a classic,  this is the world where I would choose to live.
601350
If you have ever met someone so other-worldly that you thought they could almost be from another planet, then Murder on Muritai may be all the confirmation you need that aliens  Ryxins from the planet Ryxin in this case  have indeed settled on Earth, in human guise, naturally.
The book opens like any other murder mystery, with Curtis McCoy, a private investigator, listening to his clients report of her partners death, which she assumes was murder. We soon learn however that this is no ordinary crime scenario since the deceased is Ryxin, and Human police are forbidden by law to investigate crimes involving Ryxins. Muritai Island should be an idyllic setting in the southern Pacific Ocean but instead its population is deeply divided: lawless Ryxins are striving to outnumber the Human population. McCoy is a new comer to the island and a new comer to detective work  this murder is his first case and as he tries to solve it he becomes entangled with the worst features of Ryxin society. At the same time, his involvement with a couple of Ryxin women distract him from his investigation to the point where he seems to have forgotten that he has a murder mystery to solve. And yet, cunningly, as the book draws to an end, McCoy pulls himself and all his clues together and identifies the killer.
And on the surface, this is Murder on Muritai: a not overly gripping crime novel where the investigator spends much of the book either racing around the island (or catching the ferry to the mainland) in pursuit of various women, or mourning the end of his marriage to a Human.
In spite of weaknesses in the crime-solving aspects of this book, I found Murder on Muritai both fascinating and disturbing. Cotterell cleverly brought the Ryxin aliens to Earth  to Ireland in a flash of blue light, in 1905  not so very long after the arrival of Europeans in New Zealand must have seemed like an alien invasion. From Ireland, many Ryxins have made their way to Muritai Island in search of a better life. Some of them have obeyed government regulations and only mated with Humans, thereby diluting Ryxin blood. Others are intent on illegally preserving their full-bloodedness, and all the superior powers that that entails. Putting the science-fiction - suspended reality - aspect of Murder on Muritai aside, it is impossible not to reflect on its parallels with some of the volatile racial and migrant dramas currently unfolding around the world, with their associated issues of socio-cultural diversity, integration and identity preservation, or to muse on colonisation, ethnic cleansing and master races. And then theres the question of those other-worldly people that weve all met from time to time: could they have really come from another planet?
Murder on Muritai is book one in the Ryxin trilogy. If Curtis McCoy is going to stay in business he will have to spend less time chasing beautiful women, but like all good first books in a trilogy, Murder on Muritai ends with some questions still unanswered  a reason for catching up with McCoy, as he strives for a better Muritai Island, in book two.
3433290
Gorgeous language and compelling details make this novel a world you enter rather than read. Maddy, the young protagonist, is posing as the younger sister to her young mother when they move to the small town of Reliance, Illinois so that her mother can get married. Estranged from her mother's new family, Maddy enters the household of Rose Warner, who is the wealthy daughter of the town's founder. Maddy becomes part servant and part pupil to the eccentric Rose, and gets embroiled in the undercover distribution of birth control. There are a lot of issues raised in the novel, from women's rights to social justice. The cast of secondary characters is outstanding, and the plot includes murder, illegitimate children, romantic love, and, of course both reliance and self-reliance. Volmer is an excellent writer, and I often just stopped to admire a turn of phrase or interesting detail. I highly recommend this novel.
443188
Though Seeking Sorrow might have had a bit more detail about this interesting world of Terath, and a touch more clarity here and there, it serves up plenty of wonders and horrors. The writing is crisp, vivid and action-packed, filled with delightful turns of phrase, and is more than enough to overshadow any perceived flaws.

Zens characters are rich, fully developed and sympathetic. Their journey of discovery into themselves, each other, and the fate of Sorrow, are a fine contribution to the literature of fantasy and the quest.
1496477
Exciting things keep happening, but it's not a dumb book -- the characters are, uh, extremists with their varied talents, but they're still interesting people. The world is a little like Bujold's Chalion books and a little like Miyazaki movies.
4201572
Ridiculously evocative.  The author brings settings, objects, cities, professions and especially the characters to life.  Nothing is black and white or clean-cut in this world.  A very worthwhile read.
4167080
Moshe Sipper has created a world in which war is ubiquitous -- to the benefit of all mankind. And detective Noro Myx is called upon to solve a mystery of disastrous consequences, a global plot to bring about nuclear peace -- a horrific nightmare. Great read, lots of fun!
2649566
This is one of those stories that I wished the author was still being paid for, because I would have gladly paid a modest sum for this one.

The mindset of the characters fall right in line with what I think people would be like in a post-apocoliptic world,... everyone would turn into ruthless killers, with people with compassion for their fellow man being the extreme minority.

I'd recommend this story to anyone interested in the genre.