Infernal, the ninth book of F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack series, is pretty dark. It’s tricky to go into detail without major plot spoilers, so let’s just say being a lightning rod for encounters with the Otherness is hazardous to those around you. Infernal breaks the usual formula of “fix it” jobs with a larger […]
Jack: Secret Histories, Jack: Secret Circles and Jack: Secret Vengeance comprise F. Paul Wilson’s YA trilogy about the younger years of Repairman Jack. My introduction to the character was through this spin-off series (via Secret Histories), which led me to pick up Legacies and get into the main story. Now that the last two books […]
The Magic Engineer is, possibly, my favorite of the Recluce books I have read so far. Like the rest of the books in the series, it’s set in a different age, with different characters and different political factions. The Chaos wizards of Fairhaven still have a hegemony extending across most of Candar, and they’re still […]
Three hundred years after the events in the original Mistborn trilogy, Brandon Sanderson’s The Alloy of Law gives a glimpse of what the world of Scadrial has become. The magic is the same, though it has evolved a little, with the addition of a couple new metals. The thriving city of Elendel now has trains […]
Sam Vimes is back in Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld novel—Snuff—and he hasn’t changed a bit. When Sybil talks him into taking a vacation in the countryside, Sam of course brings his work along. Between bouts of complaining about the aristocracy and the lack of loud city noises, Commander/Duke Vimes soon finds skulduggery afoot and simply […]
The Towers of the Sunset is the second book, by order of publication, in L. E. Modesitt’s Saga of Recluce. (First book: The Magic of Recluce) It’s a prequel, covering the story behind the founding of Recluce, the island haven of Order mages. It takes awhile to get into Towers, not only because you’re unceremoniously […]
If you’ve already read Changes (the twelfth book of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files), you know how shocking a few of its plot developments were. If you haven’t, stop reading before you run into some major spoilers. Yes, Harry Dresden—Chicago’s undead-fighting wizard detective—is now a ghost. After the deal he made with Queen Mab and […]
First Lord’s Fury brings Jim Butcher’s Roman-inspired fantasy epic The Codex Alera to a spectacular conclusion. Gaius Octavian returns to Alera, from the Canim lands across the sea, and is ready to do battle with the Vord. It’s fitting that the final battle takes place in the Calderon Valley, where it all began. The book […]
The Vord have returned to Alera. The invading insectoids are more powerful than ever—now with Furycraft—and they’re quickly sweeping across Alera. The First Lord must stave-off the attack, despite his rapidly failing health. Convincing the High Lords to cooperate is quite an undertaking. Meanwhile, Tavi and company are in Canea, the land of the wolf-like […]
In Cursor’s Fury, the fourth novel in Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera series, Tavi’s identity is finally reviewed. Who he is, and why he didn’t develop furycrafting abilities until so late in life. Astute readers may have already figured out his parentage and the political ramifications, but the big secret comes out in the open during […]
