Archive for Reviews

Orbit Links for August 01 2008

Welcome once more, gentle reader, to our regular Friday links round-up. We have another choice selection of Orbit authors’ online activities for you to peruse this week:

As always, if you see any online articles, reviews or interviews that feature an Orbit author, please feel free to drop us a line and let us know! We’ll happily name-check your website or blog with a heads-up credit in return (please remember to provide us with a link…)

Robert Buettner stars in AISFP Podcast #47

Orphanage UK editionFormer military intelligence officer turned military-sf writer Robert Buettner is the subject of the 47th Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast.

The first three volumes in Robert’s Jason Wander series are out now from Orbit US and will all be published by Orbit UK in August:

  • #1 – Orphanage [US / UK]
  • #2 – Orphan’s Destiny [US / UK]
  • #3 – Orphan’s Journey [US / UK]

I’ve just finished Orphanage myself and I thought it was a cracking, high-octane read that will definitely appeal to fans of Allan Cole & Chris Bunch’s Sten series, but don’t just take my word for it: check out these two recent reviews of Orphan’s Journey at bookreviewsandmore and sffworld.

Review round-up: ‘Night Shift’ by Lilith Saintcrow

Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow UK pbIn the past couple of weeks we’ve seen a flurry of reviews of Lilith Saintcrow‘s brand new novel, Night Shift [US | UK], the first in a new series starring kick-ass demon-hunter Jill Kismet.

Writing for the My Favourite Books blog, Liz was particularly impressed with the strength of Lilith’s new protagonist:

“Lilith has again created a vibrant, strong, female heroine who keeps you running behind her in a breathless charge against forces you just know you would never be able to walk away from completely unscathed.”

Graeme, of Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review fame enjoyed Lilith’s moody and atmospheric prose:

“I like what she is setting up; it’s very atmospheric (in a noir kind of way) and dark. Just the right kind of vibe for the story being told. The good news is that Saintcrow makes sure that her scene-setting doesn’t get in the way of telling a fast paced and gritty tale.”

Over at the Midwest Book Review site (not the easiest to navigate, but stick with it) Terrilyn Fleming highlights the noir-cinematic feel of Lilith’s writing:

“Lyrical language and movie-worthy fight scenes are staples in Saintcrow’s novels, and this one is no exception. In Night Shift, Saincrow’s usual beautiful language is complemented with almost Chandleresque noir phrases … Her fight scenes contain blood spatters that hang in the air and a billowing coat that snap out parachute-like when Kismet jumps from roofs. The scenes are so well painted it is like reading a graphic novel.”

And whilst Amanda at www.lovevampires.com bemoans the lack of proper vamps in Jill Kismet’s world, she was still suitably impressed enough to conclude:

Night Shift powers readers through an action packed nightscape of bloody death – usually dispensed by our heroine Jill. In my view Night Shift makes for more engaging reading than the Dante Valentine books but I think that readers will have to make up their own minds. Certainly if you have enjoyed the earlier [series] I can’t see you being disappointed by Night Shift.”

You can sample the first part of the book for yourself by reading an extract from Night Shift here, read Lilith’s intro to the book in our recent In Their Own Words item and can find out much more about the author, her new series and her previous books, over at her official website: www.lilithsaintcrow.com.

‘Midnight Never Come’: Guest Blog and Reviews

Marie Brennan - Midnight Never Come (UK)Marie Brennan, author of Midnight Never Come (UK/US) is guest blogging over at miladyinsanity about the perks of being a writer:

Then — cue the world’s smallest violin — the travel stopped. Well, not stopped, precisely; there was a stretch of time in graduate school where I averaged one out-of-state trip every month for a year and a half. But this wasn’t the exciting travel I’d done before, colorful places with fascinating sights. These were weekend jaunts to conventions or academic conferences, where I saw the exciting interiors of one hotel after another….

Last year, I figured out the best scam EVER for getting travel back into my life.

You can also read miladyinsanity’s fantastic, four star review of Midnight Never Come here.

In other great reviews, Fantasy Book Critic says:

Historical fantasies are hit-or-miss for me, so I was a little wary when starting Marie Brennan’s “Midnight Never Come”, but it wasn’t long before the book had me entranced and by the time the ending was in sight, I was doing everything in my power to make the novel last as long as possible. Spectacularly researched, beautifully imagined, and utterly charming, “Midnight Never Come” is as magical and spellbinding as the fae inhabiting Marie Brennan’s Onyx Court…(Read more)

Interested in finding out what all the fuss is about and getting a chance to win £250/$500 in book vouchers? Check out the Midnight Never Come site at www.midnightnevercome.com

‘Saturn Returns’ on Big Dumb Object

Big Dumb Object has a great review of Sean Williams’ Saturn Returns today, calling it:

Space opera with cool (far) future tech. Just up my street. The main plot follows Imre Bergamasc as he tracks down his old crack team of soldiers, along with trying to figure out what in the galaxy is going on. . .

The plot has a good pace, chunks of action, plenty of enigmas and time for the characters to think. There are also some great sensawunda set-pieces.
(Read more)

Saturn Returns is out in UK bookstores this week. Pick up your copy today!

‘Midnight Never Come’: Reviews and More

Marie Brennan - Midnight Never Come (UK)This month’s Locus has a fantastic review of Marie Brennan’s Midnight Never Come (UK/US), saying:

Brennan ably combines elements of danger, romance, and individual moral choices that could affect the fates of great realms, for a tale that’s rich in plot and character. She interweaves historic and fantastic details with scholarship, inspired acts of imagination, and a keen wit.

And over at The Book Swede there’s another great review:

Of course, in faerie fiction, having an icy queen ruling the faerie throne, while a human queen lives above, is not that unusual. A great light does cast a great shadow. Nor is having a faery story with intrigue and spying…set in Elizabethan England really new. What sets Marie Brennan apart, then, is the quality of her writing, the complexities of her plot, the characterisations, the world-building…everything. (Read more)

You can also read his interview with Marie Brennan here. If you’re interested in learning more about the world of Midnight Never Come you might want to check this site out. . .

Another Set of Great Reviews for ‘Bloodheir’

Rob over at Fantasy Book Critic is adding to the string of great reviews for Brian Ruckley’s Bloodheir (UK/US), saying:

There are battles, assassinations, and the war between the True Bloods and the Black Road becomes as intense as it has ever been…I am really looking forward to the final book in the trilogy and hope it will deliver a rousing and fulfilling finale to cap this remarkable series…( Read more.)

Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review is also a fan, saying that Brian Ruckley can be:

Compared to George R. R. Martin… for the sheer grittiness of his work and the fact that he can throw the reader a wicked curve ball that blows your expectations right out of the water… Ruckley puts the ‘epic’ into his work with some particularly brutal affairs where no expense is spared in showing the reader exactly what is going on. More please! (Read more)

Bloodheir goes on sale in the US and the UK this month – so pick up your copy soon. In the meantime, be sure to check out our Facebook giveaway!

Bloodheir: News and Reviews!

Over at Grasping for Wind, there’s a great review of Brian Ruckley’s Bloodheir (UK/US), including this fantastic bit on how Brian avoids ‘Middle Book Syndrome’:

Often, the second book in a trilogy is accused of something called “Middle Book Syndrome”. The idea is that the second book in most trilogies is mostly filler and very little plot movement really happens. And often it is true. But if anyone accuses Brian Ruckley’s second book in The Godless World trilogy, Bloodheir of suffering from middle book syndrome, I’m afraid I will have to scoff in his face. Read the rest

You can find Bloodheir in all good bookstores this June or win a copy over at Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review now. You can also listen to Brian read from Bloodheir here.

Update: The Book Swede is running a contest for his ARC of Bloodheir. You can enter here.

Curled Up with Marie Brennan’s ‘Midnight Never Come’

Marie Brennan - Midnight Never Come (UK)There’s a new review of Midnight Never Come [UK / US], Marie Brennan‘s new novel of Elizabethan intrigue and fae power-politics, over at Curled Up With a Good Book.

Reviewer Mervi Hamalainen was particularly taken by the variety and depth of the often chillingly cruel fae characters in the novel:

Midnight Never Come returns the fairies to their roots: terrifying, alien, yet captivating at the same time. Queen Invidiana is cold and cruel, and every English fae is scrambling desperately to stay on her good side. The mortal pets of the fae who have been changed by their stay among the fairies are sad and frightening figures not allowed to even keep their own names.”

Read the full review over at www.curledup.com.

‘Midnight Never Come’: four-star SFX review

Marie Brennan - Midnight Never Come (UK)The UK’s biggest sci-fi magazine, SFX, has posted a four-star review of Midnight Never Come [UK / US], the new novel by Marie Brennan, out now from Orbit UK, and published next month by Orbit US.

The book, which is set towards the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, impressed reviewer Eddie Robson with its mix of an authentic Elizabethan atmopshere and darker, fae elements: “…firmly rooted in real history, set in a convincingly-constructed Elizabethan England, but with a secret faerie court existing beneath London. Its ruler, Invidiana, is a cruel capricious sort, whose subjects live in dread of her schemes and whims.”

Eddie also enjoyed Midnight Never Come‘s highly-intriguing plot: “…refreshingly for this genre, [it’s] a political thriller, with conspiracies, spies and shady machinations … The novel starts slowly, concentrating first on world-building and putting pieces on the board, but it keeps you hooked until the plot really kicks in.”

Midnight Never Come is out now in the UK and will be published next month in the US. To read the full review, pick up a copy of the June 2008 edition of SFX Magazine.