Effendi
Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Bantam, Sep 2005, $12.00, 432 pp.
ISBN: 0553587447

His Excellency Pashazade Ashraf “Raf” Bey has been selected as the detective chief of El Iskandryia at a time when the Ottoman Empire is divided between religious fundaments and secular nationalists. However, Bey tries not to concern himself at the moment with extremists from either side though he knows not to ignore danger that might follow from zealots. Instead his focus is a brutal serial killer who mutilates his victims.

Clues point towards businessman Hamzah, owner of Hamzah Enterprises. Complicating the case for Raf is that he falling in love with Zara, the daughter of his prime suspect starting from the moment she gave a coat to his ward Hani. However, while struggling with an investigation that increasingly looks like he will arrest the man who he would like as his father-in-law, Raf also must deal with assassinations, explosions and abductions terrorizing the residents of El Isk.

EFFENDI, the sequel to the delightful police procedural PASHAZADE is quite different in plot design as the who-done-it shares billing with terrorism and political and religious intrigue. The key to why this novel and its predecessor are worth reading lies in Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s ability to paint a realistic futurist alternate universe in which the Ottoman Empire is the superpower as it has been for centuries. Raf is a terrific protagonist struggling with his personal life interacting negatively on his official duties. With cross genre appeal, EFFENDI is a strong speculative fiction.

Harriet Klausner

Effendi
Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Bantam, Sep 2005, $12.00, 432 pp.
ISBN: 0553587447

His Excellency Pashazade Ashraf “Raf” Bey has been selected as the detective chief of El Iskandryia at a time when the Ottoman Empire is divided between religious fundaments and secular nationalists. However, Bey tries not to concern himself at the moment with extremists from either side though he knows not to ignore danger that might follow from zealots. Instead his focus is a brutal serial killer who mutilates his victims.

Clues point towards businessman Hamzah, owner of Hamzah Enterprises. Complicating the case for Raf is that he falling in love with Zara, the daughter of his prime suspect starting from the moment she gave a coat to his ward Hani. However, while struggling with an investigation that increasingly looks like he will arrest the man who he would like as his father-in-law, Raf also must deal with assassinations, explosions and abductions terrorizing the residents of El Isk.

EFFENDI, the sequel to the delightful police procedural PASHAZADE is quite different in plot design as the who-done-it shares billing with terrorism and political and religious intrigue. The key to why this novel and its predecessor are worth reading lies in Jon Courtenay Grimwood’s ability to paint a realistic futurist alternate universe in which the Ottoman Empire is the superpower as it has been for centuries. Raf is a terrific protagonist struggling with his personal life interacting negatively on his official duties. With cross genre appeal, EFFENDI is a strong speculative fiction.

Harriet Klausner

Judgment Day
J.J. Ace
Five Star, Sept. 2005, $25.95 286 pp.
ISBN 1594143889

After being force fed several Ecstasy tablets at a rave, Elias jumps off a forty story building and dies. When he comes to Mephisto, second-in-command of the legions of hell and the archangel Michael, leader of God’s army, tell him he is the new Forerunner of the millennium. A Forerunner is given the powers of the angels and demons to decide who will be in control of the earth for the next one thousand years, Heaven, Hell or humanity.

The former Forerunner Matthias lived when Byzantium was a world power. Elias doesn’t want the responsibility of deciding mankind’s fate but when he saves the people who killed him and the woman he loved as a mortal, he accepts the mantle of responsibility thrust upon him. The fallen angel Warrish doesn’t want Elias to make any choice and repeatedly tries to kill him so he can rule over all the realms by bringing about Armageddon. Elias with the help of several allies does all in his power to stop him but while the hosts of heaven and hell clash, Warish reads the scrolls that bring about uncreation. That opens Elias’s eyes so he makes a decision that changes heaven, hell and other entities.

This apocalyptic thriller is also a coming of age story (even though the hero is dead). Abandoned by his father and feeling that his mother neglects him, Elias goes from a pleasure seeking rebel to a man capable of choosing what he deems is best for mankind. There is non-stop action, great character development and an exciting storyline in this unique work of speculative fiction work J.J. Ace has written a work that will be put on the readers’ keeper shelf

Revenge Gifts
Cindy Cruciger
Tor, Sep 2005, $6.99
ISBN: 0765352257

Revenge expert Tara Cole runs her booming on-line business, Revenge-Gifts.com. located in the Florida Keys. She has a ton of customers though she also receives plenty of hate mail that she chooses to ignore. Business is so good that Howard “Muffin” Payne offers her a business proposal that she is considering except he seems more interested in her bed than the boardroom.

Tara does have problems with a poltergeist in her home tossing eggs everywhere and the ghost of Uncle Lester scaring her guests by turning on lights or waking her up amongst other pranks. However that all pales as someone has either hired a Revenge Gifts clone or more likely she has been voodoo cursed. Her car contains gris-gris bags and black cats, rooster and goats constantly cross her path as if she is a magnet; each visit is followed by something terrible. Each is followed by bad events. Tara has been challenged to a voodoo duel, which if she fails to accept could mean her death and if she does accept she could be dead anyway. Even to Tara dead sounds too deadly of a revenge for some slight she may have inadvertently done.

REVENGE GIFTS is a humorous paranormal romantic thriller starring a wonderfully cursed heroine wondering if her business has cost her plenty of karma when she is not pondering why someone is after her. The story line never takes itself seriously as Tara runs her business by meeting her customers’ needs, but also struggles with someone coming after her probably using voodoo and then there is that ghost to deal with while also meeting and trying to find time for a hunk. Readers who appreciate something off kilter and different will enjoy this wacky Keys (oxymoron?) tale of a very busy and adorable heroine.

Harriet Klausner

The Destined Queen
Deborah Hale
Luna, August, 2005, $13.95, 400 pp.
ISBN 0373802439

When Maura Woodbury started on her quest to find the Waiting King she was destined to marry him as she was THE DESTINED QUEEN. She is accompanied by outlaw Rath Talward. They fall in love but it is not until the Sacred Glade that Rath is revealed as the Waiting King, the reincarnation of King Elzeban who is destined to return to help Umbria in the darkest hour which is now as the cruel and oppressive Hans rules with an iron fist.

A small bird carrying a message tells them to go the Vestan Islands. When they arrive, the islanders, who fled Umbria when the Hans invaded, give Rath an army to free his countrymen. As the rightful king returns to the homeland Maura must find the staff of Velarken which will grant Rath one wish he must use wisely if he is to defeat the Hans without turning into a tyrant like them.

THE DESTINED QUEEN is romantic fantasy at its very best. The love between the two protagonists gives them the strength against overwhelming odds to believe they can defeat their enemies if they listen to their hearts as well as to their heads. The common people rally around this legendary king but more is needed to oust the enemy from their homeland. Deborah Hale’s romantic fantasy is a moving and beautiful tale showcasing two characters who capture the readers interest because they are flawed people trying to do the right thing ever when they are not sure which course that is.

Harriet Klausner

Cast In Shadow
Michelle Sagara
Luna, August 2005, $13.95, 400 pp.
ISBN: 0373802366

In the Kingdom of Karaazon, in the capital of Elantra, the river Abalyne separates the fiefs from the rest of society. In the fiefs, warlords rule over their own domain and have their own laws and armies. Surprisingly, the sentient species on both sides of the river, human, avian, immortal, etc get along with one another. Now there is a crisis brewing that has it roots in a series of killings that happened in the fiefs years ago when children were killed over a period of three years.

Now the killings have started only this time there are only three days between killings and the victims, like the ones three years ago have strange tatoo like makings on their bodies. Kaylin, who originally came from the fiefs, also had the mysterious markings on her body before the killings started. Now she works on the right side of the law and is determined to find the killer before the magical ritual is completed and more lives are lost.

CAST IN SHADOW is a magnificent fantasy filled with plenty of suspense, a terrific who-done-it, and a wonderful heroine sacrificing her own needs to provide selfless service to end the killing in the fiefs. Michelle Sagara provides a fantastic realm in which the audience will believe that diverse sentient species exist and live and work in harmony at least until the murders occur leading to everyone pointing fingers at anyone different. Ms. Sagara smoothly has combined mystery and fantasy in this terrific tale. She has the talent to become a star in the fantasy genre.

Harriet Klausner

The House of Cthulhu
Brian Lumley
Tor, Sep 2005, $23.95, 256 pp.
ISBN: 0765310732

In 1967 a treasure of ancient secret tomes were discovered that shed a light on the great primal island continent of Theem’hdra where sorcery wars were the norm. As the scribe of these incredible documents, the White Wizard Teh Atht described a time when sorcerers like Mylarkhrion the most terrible stole or protected magical knowledge from one’s peers and other hired hands; a time when summoning of Cthulhu the Great One doomed all.

This compilation is predominantly a reprint of a 1984 book. The current book contains the introduction and nine of the eleven tales (lacks “Isles of the Suhm-Yi” and “Curse of the Golden Guardians” for ye purists) in the 1984 book plus one other addition (“To Kill a Wizard). The tales are all well written as they come across as fantastic horror yet feel as if they historically happened and that the age of The House of Cthulhu existed, perhaps because of the clever set up by Brian Lumley possessing the works of noted but vanished 1960s scholar Thelred Gustau. This early Lumley shows his Lovecraft roots in a terrific collection.

Harriet Klausner

The Ghost and the Dead Deb
Alice Kimberly
Berkley, Sept 2005, $5.99, 260 pp.
ISBN: 0425199444

The Buy the Book Bookstore in Rhode Island, co-owned by genteel widow woman Penelope Thornton McClure and her Aunt Sadie, is haunted by the spirit of Jack Shepard, a private eye who was killed there fifty years ago while working a case. Pen is the only one who can communicate telepathically with the ghost in her dreams.

She is excited that true crime writer Angel Stark is giving a reading at her store from a book she wrote about the death of her friend Bethany . At the reading, Bethany’s sister Vicky makes a scene before being escorted out by friends and Angel flirts with Sadie’s friend’s nephew Johnny. The next day Angel’s body is found in the water a rope around her neck. Pieces of the same rope were found in Johnny’s truck. During the same time period Vicky goes missing. Johnny is the number one suspect especially since he disappeared but Pen doesn’t believe he is a killer and with help from Jack, she sets out to prove it.

Although it sounds paradoxical this is a hard boiled cozy; Jack is a Philip Marlow type while Pen is act like Miss Marple. This is a beguiling and bewitching mystery that will enchant readers as an old fashioned protagonist partners with a gruff ghost amusingly trying to blunt his sharp opinions in order not to offend Penelope’s sensibilities. Alice Kimberly is a talented storyteller who allows the reader the fantasy of believing a ghost can be confined to a bookstore and fall for the present owner. There are plenty of separate twists and turns and red herrings that will maintain reader interest in the who-done-it, but it is the ghost and the bookstore owner who make the tale.

Harriet Klausner

Servant of the Shard
R.A. Salvatore
Wizards of the Coast, Jun 2005, $7.99, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0786939508

In Calimport, Artemis Entreri heads the powerful House Basadoni, but is concerned that his secret sponsor Jarlaxle the drow is increasingly descending under the control of Crenshinibon, the Crystal Shard. If Jarlaxle falls, he will be replaced by one of his second in command either Kimmuriel or Rai-guy; both of whom hate Entreri and will remove him from leadership.

Though visibly worried that others notice that the ice cold killer seems almost frightened, Entreri refuses to sit idly by and watch his plans vanish and perhaps even his life. He concludes that he must insure that his surreptitious mentor remains in charge of the drow. To do that, he must evade the number two drows and Jarlaxle while finding a way to neutralize the Crenshinibon’s control over his superior. However, to attempt this means risking the chance he too could become a SERVANT OF THE SHARD, a fate worse than death, but perhaps better then listening to Cadderly and Danica preach.

The key players in the power struggle make for a strong Forgotten Realms fantasy as each competes for power. Thus Enreri, a few of his closest associates and the three head Drows come across as fully developed characters that turn SERVANT OF THE SHARD into a winning tale. Interestingly the fast-paced novel slows down a bit when the morally correct Cadderly and his wife spout their pious ramblings that enable them to claim God’s will while torturing their enemy. Readers will appreciate this fine reprint of Book 1 of the Sellswords series in which the “bad” dudes win out as complete characters over the shallow “good” guys similar to the first Star Wars movie with Darth or Solo vs. Luke).

Harriet Klausner

The Crow Queen
Elaine Corvidae
Mundania, 2004, $13.00
ISBN: 1594260575

Ax the wizard warns Londah the Crow Queen that Jahcgroth of Argannon will turn kingless Jenel into a frozen wasteland as he has done with his own kingdom unless a monarch is crowned soon. Ax tells Londah to keep an eye out for Lord Auglar of Kellsjard who is the hope for the future.

To be anointed ruler of Jenel, Auglar must assure the Council of Lords that he is worthy of the honor. Auglar is accompanied by his steward Suchen, Yozerf the Wolfkin and the Sworn on the trek. While Lord Fellrant makes a claim for the throne, Augur and his party are trapped inside dangerous Nava Ner in Segg. Yozerf knows his birth city detesting having to return but willing to die for Suchen. Only Londah and Yozerf can get Auglar and his party out of the city alive, but even with them the odds are insurmountable.

The sequel to the WOLFKIN is a terrific supersonic speed fantasy tale that keeps the readers on edge pondering what will happen next. The key characters are fully developed and the city seems very real to the audience who will wonder how we ended up there. Readers will enjoy the trek through the “urban” cesspool as each distrusts their companions especially when secrets are revealed but need one another because danger and death lurks around every corner. THE CROW QUEEN is a fabulous Lord of Wind and Fire tale that can be read as a solo entry, but the audience will understand the cast even better by reading the previous exciting saga.

Harriet Klausner