The war between the Chosen and the ghouls ended centuries ago in mutual destruction, but the remnants linger still, in scattered wreckage and peculiar
artifacts and monstrous plaguespawn. In the Dawn Republic, the Twilight Order of centarchs carefully controls the use of old war arcana, in addition to
hunting down the cultists who dabble in forbidden ghoul powers, the dhakim. Their protection has come to seem more like a cage to many, following
and interpreting rules passed down from long-dead Chosen masters who are clearly never coming back... rules that enable tyrants and monsters to rise and
keep many people crushed beneath their heels.
Gyre was just a boy when the Order came to steal away his sickly kid sister Maya. When he stood up to the centarch, he lost an eye to the man's casual
cruelty, the start of a deep hatred for the Order and the corrupt Republic it props up. As he grows to become a minor legend among the downtrodden and
the rebellious, Maya grows up hearing the other side of the story, seeing the horrors of the dhakim firsthand in her training. On the cusp of
becoming a full-fledged centarch, though, everything starts to go wrong. She is drug into a power struggle and sent away from her master, part of an
expedition to a distant city where a one-eyed rebel and his band are making trouble for the ruling dux.
Once brother and sister, now enemies, neither Gyre nor Maya understand the full scope of the dangers that lie ahead, not just for themselves but for their
entire world.
Review
I've had decent luck with Wexler in the past, and this looked like an intriguing start to an epic fantasy series. That is pretty much what it turns out
to be. The world of the Dawn Republic and Splinter Kingdoms is a little different from the average high fantasy setting, with artifacts both magical and
technological left behind by a cataclysmic war that ended two highly advanced races... but not that different, really. Likewise, Maya and Gyre and their
allies and enemies are decent enough, but not exceptionally complex or remarkably original. The whole has a vaguely anime vibe to it, or maybe a video
game; giant birds and lizards and turtles are beasts of burden, many humans have improbably-colored hair and eyes as a matter of course, and something
about the way the fight scenes and powers and weapons play out feel like they were meant to be animated (or pixelated). The tale itself is entertaining,
with plenty of action and magic and danger and fighting, some intrigue, and nicely-described settings and flourishes, the sort one expects from epic
fantasy. It's fun to read, with a reasonably solid plot, but not as original or gripping as perhaps I was set up to believe, based on the cover hype. That
doesn't make it bad, and I expect I will eventually track down the second volume when it's available. I will admit, though, that I expected just a little
bit more from it.
Alice has always been a good girl, studying hard and following the rules and never being a bother to her tutors... but everything changes the night
she sees her father talking to a fairy in the kitchen. Dad always told her storybook creatures like fairies weren't real, but there's no mistaking what
the winged man is - nor is there a doubt that it's somehow responsible when her father suddenly leaves on a steamship the next day, a steamship that
goes down with all hands. When the swarm of solicitors finish picking the estate's bones, Alice finds herself packed off to "Uncle Jerry", a man she
never knew existed, and his peculiar estate in the countryside. Here, in his great mysterious library, she meets a talking cat, a mystery boy, dangerous
books imprisoning magical beings, and powers she never knew she had - powers that might lead her to the fairy man and the truth about what really
happened to her father. But first, she's going to have to break a few rules...
Review
Another discount find, this middle-grade book has obvious appeal for those of us who love reading and fantasy. Alice makes a competent, intelligent
heroine, not above the odd mistake but never one to whine or bemoan or give up, no matter the odds. Surrounding her are numerous characters of often
dubious character, each with their own agendas and a certain disregard for the consequences to others... traits that Alice begins to pick up by
association as her Reader abilities - the power to enter magical books and bind their prisoners to her service, among other things - develop. The story
moves at a good pace, with some great descriptions and real peril, though the ending is more of a hook for the next book than a solid conclusion
(something I've sadly gotten used to in this day and age, where series are the rule rather than the exception.) Still, I enjoyed it, and - marketing
tactic or not - I'll be looking forward to Book 2.
As a descendant of Third Wave migrants to the stars, Kas has had to fight for every drop of status she's ever had. Even the scholars of Sentinel,
ostensibly more concerned with the pursuit of knowledge than social standing, find ways of reminding her that she's something less than those whose
ancestors left Earth with the First and Second Waves. She bent over backwards to get in on the week-long sojourn to Old Earth, but is certain that
she can finally make a name for herself if she can unearth something for her research amid the countless layers of detritus left from the countless
empires to rise and fall on the junk heap that once birthed her species. But it's only her first night there when, watching one of the mech battles
staged for the benefit of tourists, she impulsively makes a bet with money she doesn't have - and gets pulled into a dangerous power struggle
between a corrupt betting house and a rebellious underdog pilot.
Mech pilot Zhi doesn't want to become a slave to the House that controls the battles (and most every other aspect of life around the arenas), but
getting away will require a lot of money or a miracle, or possibly both. But she has a plan, albeit a risky one: if she can convince some rich
offworld sucker to put a big enough bet on her, she can use her winnings to finish repairs on a secret prize she's unearthed far beneath the
inhabited layers of the city, an ancient mech from the near-legendary Third Empire that could mop the floor with anything in the arenas today. But
when Zhi loses, she finds herself on the run from a House that wants its money as well as its newest enslaved pilot... and a persistent offworld
scholar who may be her only ticket out of the hole she finds herself in, assuming they don't both end up dead first.
Review
A quick story, Hard Reboot delivers what the cover promises: giant robots fighting to the "death" in a gritty future world. What it
doesn't deliver is much more than that. I suppose I shouldn't expect much character depth in a story that is unabashedly honest about being
little more than an excuse for flashy mechs to pound each other to scrap like metal gladiators, but I still found myself expecting more than I got.
The baddies in particular are bland in their badness, evil and mean for the sake of being evil and mean, whether they're scholars who think nothing
of exploiting Kas's research efforts to benefit more "worthy" (read: wealthy and connected) students or the House that torments and tortures and
kills the desperate people of the city just because they can. The world is nicely gritty and desperate, at least, and the robots are sufficiently
awesome, and if the story doesn't deliver any huge twists, at least it moves decently, though the ending feels a bit too clean and... I don't want
to say "easy", but given the dystopian Old Earth setting and the utter depravity of their enemies I expected there to be a bit more of a price or a
few more strings on the main characters' finale (I write vaguely to skirt spoilers), especially given that there seemed to be some leftover
potential in earlier developments. If you're just looking for steel-crunching, monocrete-cracking, rocking and socking robot action, Hard
Reboot does indeed offer that - just not a lot more.
Khandar, a land of scrub and desert and rustic gray-skinned natives beyond the Demon Sea, was a sleepy, out-of-the-way colony under the banner of the
Vordanai, a place soldiers only went when they messed up their careers - or when they wanted to hide. Captain Marcus d'Ivoire had nothing left in his
homeland save painful memories when he joined up with the Colonials. It was a quiet place, aside from the odd raider strike... until the flames of the
Redeemer swept the Khandarai people into a nationalist fervor, rising up to drive out the pale-skinned invaders. Gone soft from years of lax discipline,
it was all the soldiers could do to flee the capital and protect the worthless prince when the Vermillion Throne was overrun. Fortunately, reinforcements
have finally arrived - but Colonel Janus and his boatload of green recruits might bring more trouble than relief.
Winter was just a nameless soldier in the ranks - and she was just as happy to stay in the background, hiding not only her gender but a past that haunts
her nightmares. Tormented by a cruel sergeant and his cronies, she learned long ago to keep her mouth shut and her head down... so it didn't help when she
found herself unexpectedly promoted to fill a void when the Colonial outpost was flooded with new soldiers from the homeland. Despite her reluctance, she
has no choice but to step up to her new responsibilities if she means to keep herself and her new charges in one piece against the Redeemers.
With the eccentric, inscrutable Janus at their head, the once-undisciplined Old Colonials and the untested new recruits find themselves on the march to
reclaim the Vermilion Throne... but the colonel has a hidden agenda in his relentless, borderline reckless plan to reach the Khandarai capital - a plan
that draws Marcus and Winter and the whole Vordanai army into heretical powers straight out of legend, powers that could tip the balance in not only the
war for Khandar, but the entire world.
Review
This was an impulse purchase during a recent bookstore run, based mostly on a favorable impression of the author at a con I attended some months ago.
Though billed as a flintlock fantasy, there's little magic in the story (save the prologue) for quite some time. It's more about the characters and the
military campaign as seen by different viewpoints, from rank soldier to captain to rebel. Battle tactics become more personal when seen from the ground, so
to speak, where unpredictable enemies and flaws within one's comrades (or oneself) can affect the outcome. Wexler's research into historical warfare shows
in the details lavished on these scenes, from the effectiveness of battle formations to the sounds of artillery striking stone walls - or flesh. While this
was well written enough to hold my interest, I grew a little itchy for the promised fantasy portion of the tale to kick in. It finally makes an appearance
round about the halfway point; from there, it builds as a background glow until it finally dominates the climax of the tale. This world's magic is no simple
or lightweight thing; it's a deep, mysterious force, dangerous enough to the public (and the caster) that one can easily see why some churches of the world
branded it demon-worship. The characters were decently drawn, though I admit the secondary ones sometimes faded into a swirling sea of names. As for the
world, I found it reasonably intriguing, though the idea of rustic religious fanatics of a desert region rising up under an extremist banner against the
pale-skinned outsiders nudged a little close to a Line, given world events. Overall, though, I enjoyed it enough to consider reading Book 2 - enough of a
success that, despite some prolonged battle sequences and a touch more testosterone than I usually care to wade through, it earns a solid Good rating.
