Seems I stirred up some folks when I tried to explain my rating system in a recent interview with Temple Library Reviews. Some took my cowardice comment personally. It's a shame, but it happens.
James from Speculative Horizons, Joe from Adventures in Reading, Larry from OF Blog of the Fallen, and Jeff of Fantasy Book News & Reviews have all come to a consensus: I'm an idiot. Like retarded banana pepper level of idiocy. And a likely cross-dresser.
Well, I could have told you that.
Which makes me wonder: should I drop the number grade from the end of my reviews here on Blood of the Muse? Do you as the reader find it helpful or superfluous? Does it even matter?
There's a poll on the right, so cast your vote now. Whatever people decide is what I will go with.
Oh, and vitriolic comments and emails are welcome. Thanks for playing.
Poll - To Number Or Not to Number
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The First 100 - Richard Kadrey's "Sandman Slim" (Eos)
Monday, September 7, 2009
Let's face it, most urban fantasy sucks. With the ridiculous romantic subplots, supernatural stupidity, sluts a-plenty and the ubiquitous Does-this-cover-make-my-butt-look-fat dust jackets, most urban fantasies are about as much fun as taking a cheese grater to your tender parts.
So when you encounter something really good in the genre, it's like a happy cool breeze on a hot day. The proverbial breath of fresh air.
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey is more like a cyclone of fresh air. It's that good. 100 pages in and I'd already recommend this book, however it turns out. Kadrey's voice is utterly unique and singularly wacky. Not since Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series have I read an urban fantasy this good, this cool, this damn wicked. Definitely something to be checked out, particularly if you like urban fantasists like Charlie Huston, Warren Ellis, and Mike Carey.
News - Blood of the Muse Interview
Harry over at Temple Library Reviews has a super cool feature on his site called Reviewer Time. Every Sunday he interviews a new blogger/reviewer, turning the tables on them and making them squirm.
This week it was my turn in the hot seat to answer questions. Witty. Insightful. Controversial. My interview is none of these things. I'm just a big goof. Shows why my own Mom doesn't think I'm cool.
For those who want to read it, check it out here. And stay a while to check out Harry's site. It's a great one.
"Hand of Isis" by Jo Graham (Orbit)
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Hand of Isis
Jo Graham
528 pp. Orbit. $14.99
Pub. Date: 3/23/2009
ISBN-13: 978-0316068024
Reviewed by Paul Stotts
Queen Cleopatra.
She’s different things to different people; where Egyptian mythology meets flesh and blood. A Guardian of Egypt, Protector of its People, and an incarnation of the Goddess Isis. A lover, mother, friend, and sister. A shrewd politician and savvy negotiator, smart, sassy and driven.
And dead for over two thousand years.
So how do you breathe life back into someone that’s been dead for so long? How do you recapture a time that even the dust has forgotten? These are the questions historical fantasies struggle with, the questions they must answer to have any chance at being successful novels. Making history come alive is like scaling
It’s difficult since modern readers often can’t relate, and don’t wish to. So you have to dress the history up, letting it show a little skin, making it sexy and appealing for the MTV generation. Resurrecting the past is like re-animating a corpse. One needs a little bit of Dr. Frankenstein in them, mad scientist hair aflutter, screaming to the heavens “It’s Alive”, in order to pull it off.
If Hand of Isis is any indication, Jo Graham must have oodles of Dr. Frankenstein oozing from her pores. Because Hand of Isis doesn’t feel like a history lesson; it’s not dry, dusty and stifling, not a dead legacy as fresh as two-dead old
The story is told from the first-person perspective of Charmian, handmaiden, half-sister and childhood best friend—along with another half-sister Iras—with Cleopatra. Together they form a powerful triumvirate, the Egyptian equivalent to the Three Musketeers, each one a symbol and incarnation of the Goddess Isis, each one indispensable. They are three sides of the same coin, three faces of the same nation.
Choosing Charmian as the narrator of the story was a perfect choice by Graham. Historical fantasies work best when the narrator is not the main historical figure, but rather an observer with access to said figure’s inner circle. If Hand of Isis had been told from Cleopatra’s perspective, most of her characterization would have been lost, because Graham defines and delineates Cleopatra mainly through her relationships with the other characters. We would not see Cleopatra the Queen or Cleopatra the mother from her perspective as well as we can from the eyes of Charmian. Royalty and being regal is an attribute best observed, not explained.
It helps that Charmian is also a strong and appealing main character. The narration would suffer if her personal story wasn’t as interesting as her observations of Cleopatra.
Graham brings
I’ll admit I’m not a fan of historical-based fantasies. But I’m a fan of this book. Vivid to behold, like a spring meadow bursting with flowers, Hand of Isis enthralls.
Final Grade: 83 out of 100
The First 100 - L. Jagi Lamplighter's "Prospero Lost" (Tor)
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Okay, I'll admit it--that is the first step after all--one of my favorite comedies is The Tempest by that Shakespeare fellow. There, my dark dirty secret laid bare before you.
This explains why I was so eager to jump into Prospero Lost by L. Jagi Lamplighter. See, Prospero Lost continues the story of Miranda and Prospero, the two main characters from Shakespeare's play.
In the novel, Prospero has disappeared, leaving only a directive behind for his dutiful daughter, Miranda, that sends her on a journey to track down her estranged siblings, warning them of an impending danger, the Three Shadowed Ones.
The novel reads like a detective story, with a quirky literary charm sprinkled liberally on top. It's action-light, though, so Prospero Lost is very much a character-based fantasy. Still, it's quite engaging, especially for the English Lit geeks among us.
"Nowhere-Land" by A.W. Hill (Counterpoint)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Nowhere-Land
A.W. Hill
468 pp. Counterpoint. $25.00
Pub. Date: 6/1/2009
ISBN-13: 978-1582434988
Reviewed by Paul Stotts
Stephan Raszer is not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill private investigator sleuthing for dollars; he transcends the typical pulp noir P.I.s drawn and shaded with crayons straight out of Mickey Spillane’s monochromatic Crayola collection. He doesn’t sit alone, waiting, generally for some sexed-up dame to walk through his badly stenciled door and lay a case down on his desk; meanwhile, worrying about where this month’s rent money is going to come from, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, worn fedora cocked to the side, bottle of rotgut on his desk; his shabby office with water-stained walls situated in a dilapidated, rodent-infested building. Even when said sexed-up dame does show up on his doorstep, usually murder’s the name of the game.
Not with Raszer, though. Finding missing people is his Monopoly. And it’s something he’s good at. Really good at.
And these aren’t the got-lost-on-the-way-to-the-liquor-store-hey-check-me-out-on-the-side-of-a-milk-carton kind of missing persons. These people fall off the grid completely, seemingly vanishing into thin air, spiritual victims led astray by persuasive cults or religious-themed alternate reality games. Victims, who’ve searched for God in all the wrong places, looked for salvation in too many faces. One moment they’re here, the next—poof—gone like the Devil in a brimstone-scented puff of smoke.
See, Stephan Raszer is a cult specialist; an extractor who finds and returns people, who have tumbled down the wrong spiritual rabbit hole, back to their loved ones. He doesn’t save them just physically, but mentally and spiritually, a shaman who guides them back to the flock, shepherding them, protecting them. He’s not just a deprogrammer looking to reverse the effects of brainwashing, he’s more. He’s a soul savior.
His latest missing person is a young woman named Katy Endicott, a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who was abducted during a brutal triple homicide. In order to find Katy, Raszer will have to travel deep down the rabbit hole, to where mysticism and reality converge, always careful not to lose himself—and his soul—in the process.
Trying to describe A.W. Hill’s Nowhere-Land is like trying to describe how something tastes without using the word chicken. Extremely difficult, to the point of seeming nearly futile. Forget about putting it neatly in some genre; it’s far beyond genre. It’s like nothing you’ve ever read before, probably like nothing you’ve even imagined before, singular and refreshingly unique. And completely unforgettable.
Hill seamlessly merges together disparate elements in the narrative like mysticism, cults, castration, religious-based alternate reality games and Middle Eastern slavery rings, each element well-researched and imagined, creating an intellectual powerhouse of a novel. Nowhere-Land is stunningly intricate, detailed and erudite, a novel that is both highly philosophical and substantive containing numerous overlapping layers. Which makes Nowhere-Land extremely challenging fiction.
Most of the challenge comes from the mystical, reality-distorting nature of the novel, which is most evident in its last act. Nowhere-Land is the mystical experience, novelized; it is belief, faith and spirituality, described. It’s the visions of Hildegard of Bingen wrapped up in a mystery like an evangelical egg roll. Points in the novel are reminiscent of Plato’s allegory of the cave, surreal moments where the reader emerges from the shadowy confusion of the cave to behold the light and truth outside, finally glimpsing reality, utterly overwhelmed. While disorienting at first, it’s also extremely rewarding, and it makes Nowhere-Land feel mystical. Special. And, strangely, believable.
A.W. Hill’s Nowhere-Land will likely be overlooked by readers due to its challenging subject matter and genre-defying nature. That’s a shame, because it’s one of the most substantive and unique novels I’ve read in years. Clearly, one of this year’s best.
Final Grade: 88 out of 100
The First 100 - S.A. Swann's "Wolfbreed" (Spectra)
Monday, August 17, 2009
Wolfbreed by S.A. Swann is not a book I'd normally pick up to read, but the blurb on the back from George R.R. Martin had me giving this one a shot.
And I'm glad I did. A hundred pages in, and I'm loving it.
Yeah, it's a werewolf book, but Swann takes it in such a new direction, it feels fresh and novel. And completely unexpected.
I can see this one falling through the cracks, which is a shame. Because it deserves a broader audience.
The First 100 - Joe Abercrombie's "Best Served Cold" (Orbit)
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Say this for Joe Abercrombie's novels: they're distinct. Easily identifiable. Only a few pages in, and you know you're in the warped mind of the master.
Must be all that glorious torture porn. Because if someone's not being tortured in the first five pages of an Abercrombie novel, you need to immediately return it to your point of purchase for a refund. Likely one of those pod aliens has abducted Joe and left a simulacrum behind.
All that said, one hundred pages into Best Served Cold and I'm enjoying myself immensely. Go torture porn!
Collector's Corner - David Anthony Durham
Since he was recently awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, what better time than to highlight David Anthony Durham. A couple of years back when he was at San Diego Comic Con, I was able to score this autograph. Enjoy.
Book Giveaway: Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Thursday, August 13, 2009
This is for those who love urban fantasy, and like it a bit philosophical. Up for grabs is a copy of Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch. If you aren't familiar with it, I have a review posted here.
Others. They walk among us, observing. Set in contemporary Moscow, where shape shifters, vampires, and street-sorcerers linger in the shadows, Night Watch is the first book of the hyper-imaginative fantasy trilogy from bestselling Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko. This epic saga chronicles the eternal war of the "Others," an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers who must swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light.
The agents of Light--the Night Watch--oversee nocturnal activity, while the agents of Dark keep watch over the day. For a thousand years both sides have maintained a precarious balance of power, but an ancient prophecy has decreed that a supreme Other will one day emerge, threatening to tip the scales. Now, that day has arrived. When a mid-level Night Watch agent named Anton stumbles upon a cursed young woman--an uninitiated Other with magnificent potential--both sides prepare for a battle that could lay waste to the entire city, possibly the world.
To Enter to Win: Send an email to pstotts@bloodofthemuse.com with the subject line "WATCH" and include your name and mailing address in the body of your email. Multiple entries will be disqualified. Winners will be selected at random. No purchase is necessary.
For more Blood of the Muse giveaways: click here.
Bloggers: if you promote this contest on your blog, I will give you an additional entry. Email me at pstotts@bloodofthemuse.com with the subject line "WATCH", and include the address to your blog in the body of the email, or you can leave the address to your blog in the comment section of this post. I'll check it out and make sure you get another entry.
Good luck to everyone who enters!
