Ghost Story by Jim Butcher. Book review

Ghost Story: A Dresden Files Novel by Jim Butcher. Orbit  £8.99

Reviewed by Jan Edwards

Volume 13 in the Dresden Files that follows on directly from the cliff-hanger ending we saw in Changes. (If you haven’t read that one yet and intend to, then stop reading this review now!)

At the end of Changes, Harry Dresden was shot, so it comes as no real surprise when he finds himself to be very much dead. Far from being allowed to rest in peace he is sent back to find his killer before three of his best friends die, not to mention half of Chicago. 

I picked up Ghost Story with some trepidation, fearing that Harry Dresden without his signature battle cries of ‘Forzare’ and ‘Fuego’ might be de-fanged. But Harry as an incorporeal being is an interesting experience. True, his ability to fight is severely restricted but that leaves Harry reliant on his legendary wits and survival instincts. He must find ways to communicate with the living and also defend himself against the dead; because a lot of bad guys that he despatched in his time want a piece of him now that he is a ghost. 

The biggest issue in Ghost Story is consequences. Harry is made aware of how his single-minded course of actions to save his daughter had a profound, and mostly devastating, affect on the lives of the people he has left behind. I say no more because I wouldn’t want to give any spoilers. Let’s just say that the ending is an odd one, thoroughly intriguing and promising many interesting events to come in the advertised volume 14: Cold Days.

An excellent read, as always, and highly recommended.

13 by Kelley Armstrong: book review

13 by Kelley Armstrong. Orbit £16.99

Reviewed by Jan Edwards

13 is the final and – yes, the thirteenth – volume in the Women of the Otherworld series, since Bitten, the first in the series, appeared in 1999.

War is coming thanks to a cult led by the insane immortal Gilles de Rais’s, hell-bent on exposing the world of vampires, werewolves and demons to the world at large by creating immortals of his own design, and under his control.

13 follows directly on from (for me at least) the slightly disappointing Waking the Witch and Spellbound, and is a welcome return to form!  Yes we still have the irritating Savannah to contend with (21 years old - going on 12) but though ‘Savannah effect’ is central to the themes it is thankfully diluted by the presence of all those characters we’ve grown to know and love: Elena and Clay; Paige and Lucas, Jeremy and Jaimes; Hope, Eve and all the rest. Plus some old enemies we have come, delightedly, to hate, such as Jaz, Balaam, Josef etc.

I did feel at times that we were being led through an i-dotting and t-crossing exercise, but given the scope of the WOTO series, this has to be expected, and I don’t think it detracted from the overall reading satisfaction-factor; though it is, of course, not a book that could be read in isolation.  A knowledge of at least some of the previous volumes is essential to understand the plot and character dynamics. But I doubt that a newcomer to the WOTO universe would start with this volume, anyway, so it’s not really an issue. The pace is good and the character interaction excellent as we follow the crew through a minefield of demon plots and politics, and of avenging angels, by way of Savannah’s mother – formerly Demon’s daughter and evil witch – to a rousing crescendo in de Rais’s underground lair out in the wilds of America’s corn belt.

While the novel does have a satisfactory ending, it does, whatever the author may protest, leave everything wide open for sequels, prequels and spin-off narratives. Nevertheless, even if you have read only a few of the previous twelve Women of the Otherworld volumes, 13 is well worth your time.

13 by Kelley Armstrong

13 by Kelley Armstrong is the finale to the Women of the Otherworld series, published by Orbit (£16.99)

“War is coming to the Otherworld. A sinister cult known as The Supernatural Liberation Movement is hell-bent on exposing the truth about supernaturals to the rest of the world. Their violent, ruthless plan has put everyone at risk: from werewolves to vampires, from witches to half-demons.

Savannah Levine – fiery and unpredictable – stands at the heart of the maelstrom. There is a new, dark magic inside her, granting her the power to summon spells of terrifying strength. But whether this magic is a gift or a curse, no one knows. On the eve of battle, all the major players must come together in a last, desperate fight for survival – Elena and Clay; Adam and Savannah; Paige and Lucas; Jeremy and Jaime; Hope, Eve and more… They are fighting for lives. They are fighting for their loved ones. They are fighting for the Otherworld.”

New books from KJ Parker and Ian Tregillis

Two new books due from Orbit this month:

Sharps by K J Parker (£8.99)

“For the first time in nearly forty years, an uneasy truce has been called between two neighbouring kingdoms. The war has been long and brutal, fought over the usual things: resources, land, money… Now, there is a chance for peace. Diplomatic talks have begun and with them, the games of skill and chance. Two teams of fencers represent their nations at this pivotal moment. When the future of the world lies balanced on the point of a rapier, one misstep could mean ruin for all.”

Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis (£7.99)

“The year is 1939. Raybould Marsh and other members of British Intelligence have gathered to watch a damaged reel of film in a darkened room. It appears to show German troops walking through walls, bursting into flames and hurling tanks into the air from afar. If the British are to believe their eyes, a twisted Nazi scientist has been endowing German troops with unnatural, unstoppable powers. And Raybould will be forced to resort to dark methods to hold the impending invasion at bay. But dealing with the occult exacts a price. And that price must be paid in blood.”

The Apocalypse Codex by Charles Stross

Charles Stoss’s The Apocalypse Codex is published next month (Orbit £7.99):

“Bob Howard used to fix computers for the Laundry – the branch of the British Secret Service that deals with otherworldly threats – but those days are over. He’s not only been promoted to active service but actually survived missions against cultists, enemy spies and tentacled horrors from other dimensions. Willingly or not, he’s on his way up in this dangerous organisation. When a televangelist with connections to 10 Downing Street seems able to work miracles, the Laundry takes an interest. But an agency that answers to the Prime Minister can’t spy on him themselves, and Bob’s shadowy superiors come up with a compromise – they hire ‘freelancers’, with Bob in charge.”

New books from Kate Locke and Markus Heitz

God Save the Queen by Kate Locke is published next month by Orbit (£7.99):

“The Year is 2012 – and Queen Victoria still rules with an immortal fist. She’s the undead matriarch of a Britain where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground and mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. A world where technology lives side by side with magic, where being nobility means being infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath) and Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day. Xandra Vardan is a member of the elite Royal Guard, and it’s her duty to protect the Aristocracy. But things get complicated when her sister goes missing. Xandra will not only realise she’s the prize in a dangerous power struggle – but she’ll also uncover a conspiracy that threatens to topple the empire itself.”

Also due next month from Orbit is The Fate of the Dwarves (£9.99). This is the fourth instalment in the epic fantasy from international bestselling author Markus Heitz.

“For the last time, the dwarves are going to war – and the outcome will decide the fate of their race. There has been no word from the brave warrior Tungdil since the vicious battle at the Black Abyss. Dragons, magicians, and the malevolent älfar have advanced far into the kingdom of Girdlegard, ruthlessly seizing vast areas of land. The dwarves seem to be facing their next battle with little hope of survival. But then the inexplicable happens. A dwarf dressed in black armour returns from the abyss with a formidable army in tow. He calls himself Tungdil, and for his most loyal friend Ireheart and his allies, this means a new hope. But soon doubts begin to arise . . . Could this really be Tungdil, or is this warrior following his own dark agenda? It is a question of the future of Girdlegard – and the future of all the dwarves.”

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson: book review

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit £18.99)

Reviewed by John Howard

CONTEXTUAL (1)

The year is 2312 (yes really). The Solar System two centuries hence is a very different place from now. We get to see this. There is a lot of travelling. The panoramas are exhilarating and sometimes dangerous.

KIM AND JOHN AND JOHN

The structure of 2312 recalls (and is acknowledged by a nod) that of John Dos Passos’ trilogy USA (1930-36): weaving in and out between the main narrative chapters there are recurring sections with numbered headings which contain lists, bits of info-dumps, extracts, etc. The earthbound SF exemplar is Stand on Zanzibar (1969) by John Brunner.

PEOPLE (1)

Alex is dead, but is still probably the most important character in the novel. She remains central – people and events revolve around her – although she is never there.

SETTINGS (1)

Where it has proved possible for humanity to settle in the Solar System, it has, with lesser or greater degrees of insecurity and danger. Spacers are the humans who have been born and live away from Earth. Sometimes distrusted on Earth, the rest of the Solar System is their territory.

PEOPLE (2)

Swan Er Hong is mourning her grandmother Alex, whose death at the age of 191 is nevertheless a great shock to Swan and the wide-ranging network of Alex’s friends. Swan’s ongoing grief has scarcely begun to abate when she visits Mqaret, Alex’s partner. Jean Genette is a close friend of Alex’s, looking for something she might have left behind. Wahram, from Titan, and another friend of Alex’s, arrives there too.

SETTINGS (2)

Mercury: a planet blasted by the sun. The city of Terminator endlessly travels along its ribbon of endless track, kept moving by the power of light and the pursuit of shadow. Out on Mercury’s surface, the feral sunwalkers have to stay moving to keep up.

CONTEXTUAL (2)

Some people have a qube (implanted or carried with them). Qubes are personal AIs that can be turned on and off at will, and networked throughout the Solar System. Swan and Jean Genette have them. Who else has qubes, and what are they doing that humans might not know about?

PEOPLE (3)

Jean Genette is an inspector from Interplan, the Solar System’s police. He asks Swan to carry out her grandmother’s wishes and travel to Io to deliver personally a paper note to Wang, another friend and colleague of Alex’s. Why should this be, when interplanetary and personal communication and travel is so easy? Swan agrees and travels to Io with Wahram.

SETTINGS (3)

Two examples: Io, volcanic hellworld; Iapetus, liquid world frozen into an irregular sphere. Spacers keep a precarious hold on what they have been able to grasp.

PEOPLE (4)

Swan and Wahram: fire and ice: light and dark: nevertheless something may well be there.

CONTEXTUAL (3)

2312 is a trilogy packed into a single volume. Robinson keeps things lean and is always cutting to the chase.

SETTINGS (4)

Earth, ravaged by climate change and the massive rise in sea level, is still a main player in Solar System politics. Much of its population of eleven billion lives in poverty in the shadow of the orbital space elevators.

PEOPLE (5)

On Earth, Swan is rescued from a bad situation by poor boy Kiran, who is rewarded with a job working on the gigantic project terraforming Venus. Kiran keeps his eyes and ears open and finds things out, whether he wants to or not.

CONTEXTUAL (4)

Robinson is often categorised as a utopian writer, which he often is. Perhaps sometimes he seems to be too willing to concentrate too much on the sunny side of his detailed worlds. But his work is not that simple and things are not that clear-cut.

SETTINGS (5)

The terraria: Aymara, Aspen, Tatar Soul, Saint George, The Little Prince, Arabia Deserta: some of the nineteen thousand asteroids and satellites occupied by humans, each custom designed with an environment for a particular interest group. Some terraria also function as huge space transports: the Orient Expresses and cargo liners of the Solar System.

PEOPLE (6)

…Are not always what they might seem. Swan and Wahram meet some they are very unsure about. They look human, but…?

SETTINGS (6)

Mars is now terraformed, Venus is in the process of being terraformed. Some feel that mistakes have been made and are being made, and want to change things. The Solar System could be torn apart by a series of planetary civil wars. Swan, Wahram, Jean Genette, and Kiran find themselves involved in a tangle of schemes that Alex had left in progress.

PEOPLE (7)

The connected significance of several dramatic events in different parts of the Solar System slowly dawns on Swan, Wahram, Jean Genette, Kiran, and others they have enlisted to help.

CONTEXTUAL (5)

Swiftly and surely, inexorably, Robinson closes the woven tapestry of 2312 and loose ends are trimmed, not without sacrifice. But there is welcome uplift.

KIM AND JOHN

The verdict: perhaps Robinson sometimes coasts a little in 2312. Nevertheless he constantly holds the interest and shoots out ideas like solar prominences. This is a fine novel from an author of many fine novels. Humanity would still be lucky if everything 200 years hence were to turn out this way. 

Three from Orbit

Cursed by Benedict Jacka is now available from Orbit (£7.99). Jim Butcher’s quote: “I just added Benedict Jacka to my must-read list” so I imagine that gives some indication of the book’s narrative.

“Things are going well for Alex Verus. He’s on moderately good terms with the Council, his apprentice is settling in and his shop in Camden is gaining quite a reputation. But when a mysterious woman bursts into the Arcana Emporium one night with an assassin on her tail, Alex is thrown into a plot to revive a long-forbidden ritual. His old enemies are after the secret, as well as a Council mage named Belthas and a mercenary named Garrick, and at least one of them is trying to get Alex killed – if he only knew which. He can see the future, but knowing who to trust is something else.”

Book two of The Dreamblood, The Shadowed Sun by N K Jemisin is published this month (Orbit £7.99):

“Gujaareh, the city of dreams, suffers under the imperial rule of the Kisuati Protectorate. A city where the only law was peace now knows violence and oppression. And nightmares: a mysterious and deadly plague haunts the citizens of Gujaareh, dooming the infected to die screaming in their sleep. Trapped between dark dreams and cruel overlords, the people yearn to rise up – but Gujaareh has known peace for too long. Someone must show them the way.”

Blackout by Mira Grant is out in June (Orbit £7.99). If you like zombies, this is probably dead right for you!

“The year is 2041, and Shaun Mason is having a bad day. Everyone he knows is dead or in hiding. The world is doing its best to end itself for the second time. The Centre for Disease Control is out to get him. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, he must face mad scientists, zombie bears and rogue government agencies before the conspiracy that killed Georgia manages to kill the only thing he has left of her – the truth. And if there’s one thing he knows is true in this post-zombie, post-resurrection America, it’s this: Things can always get worse.

Caliban's War by James Corey

Caliban’s War by James S A Corey (Orbit £13.99) is book two of The Expanse, available later this month. Book one, Leviathan Wakes, was published in June 2011.

“While Earth and Mars have stopped shooting each other, the core alliance is shattered. The outer planets and the Belt are uncertain in their new – possibly temporary – autonomy.  Then, on one of Jupiter’s moons, a single super-soldier attacks, slaughtering soldiers of Earth and Mars indiscriminately and reigniting the war. The race is on to discover whether this is the vanguard of an alien army, or if the danger lies closer to home.”

Existence by David Brin

If you’re quick you’ll be able to pick up a copy of David Brin’s Existence (Orbit £13.99) with a rather impressive 3D cover. It’s a smart-looking book and is bound to be a collector’s item: best buy two copies.

“An alien artefact plucked from Earth’s orbit throws the world into chaos with both warning and a promise. For the prophet who dreams of new world order, survival means putting an end to democracy. For the movie mogul with a talent for spinning facts, the public doesn’t know what’s best for them. And for the reporter determined to discover the truth, the world needs to know what’s at stake. All are determined to hold off Armageddon.”

The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett. Orbit £8.99

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

Teenager George runs off to join a vaudeville act in small town USA, with the greater intention to find his father, Silenus. George has strange memories of when Silenus last visited, of the vaudeville act that Silenus managed … and especially of the intoxicating music. They do meet, of course, and soon George becomes part of Silenus’ troupe – and learns secrets about the way things are, the way the world works: the magic behind creation. But dark forces are out to stop the song that holds it all together…

With all these elements, I was sure to be hooked, drawn in to this novel. Alas, I wasn’t. I read the first section (around 150 of its 480 pages) pretty quickly but then my enthusiasm waned. For sure, the concept, the ideas are intriguing. But great ideas don’t make a great novel on their own. It just didn’t grab me. I found the narrative too loose and in my opinion a thorough edit to tighten the text, to make the story taut, more dynamic, would have made all the difference.  Maybe because of that I didn’t find the characters convincing enough to wonder over their fate. All of which left me somewhat disappointed. This is a real pity because there is so much potential in The Troupe.

The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett

Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Troupe looks promising (due out in February on Orbit, £8.99).

“George Carole ran away from home to join the Vaudeville circuit. Sixteen years old, uncommonly gifted at the piano, he falls in with a strange troupe – even for Vaudeville. Under the eye of the enigmatic Silenus, George comes to realise that the members of the troupe are more than they appear to be. And their travels have a purpose that runs deeper than entertainment.”

Robert Jackson Bennett is the author or the acclaimed Mr Shivers (2010).

The Castings by Pamela Freeman

The Castings Trilogy by Pamela Freeman hits the bookshops early December, published by Orbit. This omnibus edition contains: Blood Ties, Deep Water and Full Circle.

“Bramble is impetuous with a talent for trouble, and she finds it when an accident brands her a criminal. But she expects no mercy with her Traveller blood - so when the village gods tell her to flee, she hits the road. In ghost-ridden Turvite, Ash leaves the road for an apprenticeship, the only one available for a Traveller such as himself. Then his employer trains him to kill on demand and his future looks bleak.”

Cold Magic by Kate Elliot

Now available from Orbit is Kate Elliott's Cold Magic:

"From one of the genre's finest writers comes a bold new epic fantasy in which science and magic are locked in a deadly struggle. It is the dawn of a new age... The Industrial Revolution has begun, factories are springing up across the country, and new technologies are transforming in the cities. But the old ways do not die easy.

Cat and Bee are part of this revolution. Young women at college, learning of the science that will shape their future and ignorant of the magics that rule their families. But all of that will change when the Cold Mages come for Cat. New dangers lurk around every corner and hidden threats menace her every move. If blood can't be trusted, who can you trust?"

Surface Detail by Iain M Banks

This just in from Orbit books:

"Iain M Banks fans take note -- Surface Detail is out at the end of October, and here's what you need to know: General Systems Vehicles, Special Circumstances, Orbitals. Plus Unfallen Bulbitians, Smatter, Hells and Intagliates.

For those of you who have no idea what we are talking about, don’t worry. It is never too late for you to join the Culture. You can start with Surface Detail."

If you need further tempting, read the first chapter here.

Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen

Zombies seem to be livening up publishing just now. Coming soon from Orbit: Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen. This is the first in a series; volume two is due in January 2011. Discover more on Petersen's website.

"Meet Sarah and David: Once upon a time they met and fell in love. But now they’re on the verge of divorce and going to couples’ counselling. On a routine trip to their counsellor they notice a few odd things -– the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their counsellor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client’s throat.

Meet the Zombies: Now, Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. But, just because there are zombies, doesn’t mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don’t eat their brains, they might just kill each other.

Married With Zombies is a heart-warming tale of terror set during the time of the zombie uprising."

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

The Black Prism, book one in Brent Weeks' new Lightbringer series, is available now, published by Orbit.

The Black Prism introduces a new world, a new magic system, and a new cast of characters -- plus the twists, turns, and reversals of fortune fans loved in The Night Angel trilogy.

Grasping for the Wind calls The Black Prism “an epic fantasy unlike any of its contemporaries… a truly visionary and original work.” And Fantasy Book Critic says: “The main flaw of The Black Prism is that it ends -- despite 600+ pages and a reasonable ending point, I still wanted another 600 at least!”

You can read a three-chapter excerpt here. And right now Brent is on a ten city tour reading and signing the book. If you live in the USA check in on the tour schedule here.