The Clockwork Rocket, which is the first volume in Greg Egan’s brand new hard science fiction trilogy Orthogonal, is a book with three different but equally important focal points. On the one hand, it’s the story of a young woman who also happens to be a very alien alien. On the other, it’s a novel about a planet-a very alien planet-on the cusp ( Read more... )

News coverage of military conflicts changed forever when journalists were allowed to travel along with combat units and report right from the front line, providing dramatic real life images of what life is like for soldiers and civilians in a war zone. Dan Abnett effectively takes this concept of the “embedded reporter” into futuristic ( Read more... )

Two more articles on tor.com:

- A write-up about the first 3 books of the "A Trial of Blood and Steel" series by Joel Shepherd
- A review of "Haven", the final book in that series.

Disclaimer: I received free review copies of these books from Pyr.

Next up: I'm reading "Embedded" by Dan Abnett, and eagerly hoping for more assignments from tor.com :)

…Vegas Knights is a fun, entertaining urban fantasy novel that starts off with a bang and rarely slows down. Matt Forbeck gives the reader a great feel for what it’s like to gamble and party in Vegas, and combines this with an exciting and action-packed plot. As someone who’s spent a good amount of time in the “City of Lost Wages,” I ( Read more... )

…As a big fan of Graham Joyce, I was very excited to get my hands on his newest novel The Silent Land. I found the book to be good but not nearly as great as I’ve come to expect from this author. The main problem with the novel is its structure: weighing in at about 270 pages, the novel consists of over 250 pages of occasionally ( Read more... )

…Home Fires is a good novel, but falls far short of what Gene Wolfe is capable of at his best. Part of the problem is that the vast majority of the story is told from the perspective of Skip Grissom, and Skip happens to be the least interesting component of this tale… Home Fires has a complex and interesting plot that expands in scope as ( Read more... )

…. Jon Courtenay Grimwood offers a vividly realized fantasy setting with this not quite historically accurate but still surprisingly realistic version of “la Serenissima,” the Serene Republic of Venice. You’ll get many authentic looks at what life in this amazing city-state must have been like, from the perspectives of both the rich ( Read more... )

…Col Buchanan’s debut Farlander, book one of the Heart of the World series, is a promising but somewhat uneven series opener. Some aspects of this novel are extremely well done, and others don’t work quite as well… World-building is one of Farlander’s biggest strengths… The world of Farlander is simply fascinating, and not nearly all ( Read more... )

…  The Lost Gate is the opening volume in the MITHER MAGES, Orson Scott Card’s newest fantasy series… On the plus side, The Lost Gate has an interesting magical system… Even more interesting is the setup of the fictional universe, with the two worlds, connected in the past but now separated, influencing each other. The way Card explains ( Read more... )

The Spirit Eater mostly has the same strengths and weaknesses as the prior two books in the series. On the one hand, it’s once again an entertaining, fast-moving and occasionally funny story. You won’t be bored, that’s for sure. Rachel Aaron gives the impression that she simply enjoys writing, and that enjoyment is contagious. Her ( Read more... )