A Fistful of Charms
Kim Harrison
Harper, Jul 2006, $7.99, 544 pp.
ISBN 0060788194

When half of the human population of the world was decimated by a genetically engineered virus, the Inderlanders, those creatures of myth and legend such as vampires, werewolves, shifters, pixies and witches came out of the closet. Rachel Morgan a witch, Ivy a powerful living vampire and Jenks a pixie are partners in a runner (similar to Bow Street) agency Vampiric Charms. When Jenk’s son Jax disappears and then calls for help Jenks and Rachel rush to Michigan to pick him up.

He tells them that Rachel’s ex-boyfriend Nick the thief is being held on an island populated by Weres because he double crossed them after finding an artifact that has gone missing for centuries. After using a spell to shift into a wolf form so she can fight an alpha were for their freedom, she wins the battle and they manage to escape. However Nick has the artifact in his possession and the Weres will do anything to retrieve it. Somehow, Jenks, Rachel and Ivy who joins them later must find a way to elude the Weres and stop Nick from stealing the artifact otherwise a vampire/Were power struggle will break out with many people injured in what eventually will become a war.

Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris and Kelly Armstrong are going to love A Fistful of Charms. There is plenty of action, a bit of romance and enough death defying escapades to the please fans of many genres. Rachel is a conflicted individual who isn’t always sure of her own feelings and actions and sometimes strays into the dark areas of magic to do the right thing. Kim Harrison is a great world builder, who creates fascinating characters and puts them in a realm where humans and Inderlanders live together, not always in harmony.

Harriet Klausner

The Candle of Distant Earth
Alan Dean Foster
Del Ray, July 2006, $23.95, 242 pp.
ISBN 0345481312

On the planet Hyff, an astronomer sees three ships approaching and fear the Iollth are approaching as they do every century or so to loot and plunder. The Hyffs are pacifists by nature and simply do not have the military mindset to wage war even on an enemy. However, the ships the astronomer saw are not from Iollth but are Nyyuan carrying Marcus Walker, the sentient speaking canine George, the squid like creature Sque and the giant Braouk from the planet Tuuqalia.

These four aliens have been abducted from their homeworlds by the Vilenjii traders who believe sentient beings are commodities to be taken. The astronomers of Hyff find Braouk’s planet but before they can travel there the Iollth arrive. The people of Hyff have been so kind and helpful to them, they find they can’t leave without solving the Iollth problem. On Braouk’s world they find the homeworld of Sque and once they arrive there, the isolationist egotistical beings of K’eremu refuse to help George and Marcus find earth because it is not their problem.

Readers are treated to a tour of the galaxy filled with sentient aliens of all shapes and sizes. It is a dazzling universe and Earth is considered such an isolated backwater place, nobody knows where it is. Allen Dean Foster has written an excellent Star Wars like novel that dazzles the readers with characters that are so realistic and unusual. There is plenty of action but what makes this tale stand out from others is that that these different worlds are explored in intricate detail.

Harriet Klausner

Children of Magic
Edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes
Daw, Jun 2006, $7.99
ISBN: 0756403618

This is one of the best, if not the best, anthology of the year. Each of the seventeen tales (mostly written by women) is excellent with some like the amusing “After School Special” by Huff and “The Trade” by Patton being extraordinary. The seventeen contributions will be read more than once with this reviewer for instance having finished the book in one fabulous sitting; something that rarely happens by me with short story collections. Fans of coming of age fantasy tales will appreciate this superior compilation as readers observe the efforts of the starring youngsters learning to use their magic which make for a terrific book in many ways reminiscent of the early X-Men.

Harriet Klausner

Almost a Goddess
Judi McCoy
Avon, Jun 2006, $5.99
ISBN: 006075785X

At the employer-employee review Zeus warns demigoddess Kyra that her performance is unsatisfactory as she has not accomplished much since their last counseling one century ago. He explains to the distraught Muse of Good Fortune that she is on probation and if she fails to improve her outcomes, she will be terminated. He gives her one month in Vegas to make the grade.

Socrates Themopolis hires Jake Lennox to determine who is skimming money from his Vegas located Acropolis I casino and hotel as the place is packed but losing a million a month. Jake pretends to be Socrates’ nephew so he can easily get around. When he meets employee Kyra he is attracted to her, but her behavior seems just off kilter making his suspect she might be the thief yet hoping she is not. As they fall in love, Kyra must choose between immortality and a life with Jake.

ALMOST A GODDESS is a fun romantic fantasy starring a likable demigoddess and a caring mortal. Each brings baggage to the craps table as both wonder whether they will shoot snake eyes or sevens when it comes to betting on the other. The interaction between Zeus and Kyra is priceless as Judi McCoy provides an amusing enchanting tale that will have readers pondering for love or immortality.

Harriet Klausner

The Land of the Wand
Debora Elizabeth Hill, Sandra Brandenburg
Lost Myths Ink, Feb 2006
ISBN: 1929374437

In an import store at Chicago’s Illinois Center mall, four seemingly normal Homo Sapiens are drawn to a wand on display. They cannot resist its lure though the quartet (Swedish heavy metal rock star Marshall Storm of the group Stockholm, fantasy author Evan Stone, architect Valaura Bennet, and Burger World server Lillian Curtis) appears to have nothing in common. That is until the wand transports them into a strange place like nothing any of them have ever seen before.

They meet the “Daemona” people with hooves who are under assault by a stunningly gorgeous winged race Anjeles who want to eradicate the species. The Daemona consider the foursome as their saviors with pacifist Marshal as the champion and the remaining peace-loving trio his helpers. Hoping to prevent ethnic cleansing, the transported earthlings struggle to understand their hosts led by four sibling rival monarchs (Nicholas, Mephistopheles, Beelzebub, and Lucifer) battling one another as much as the adversary and the Anjeles whose King Yahoo rules in Paradiso. Give peace a chance seems unlikely in a realm where holy war is the norm.

This is a terrific allegorical fantasy that grips readers once the four humans are introduced (cleverly done in separate prologues to open the tale) and never slows down until the final Stockholm Concert. The story line is action-packed but intelligently uses tiny spins such as names of monarchs and species to provide a “truth” somewhat differing from religions back home. Readers will believe that the four heroes left the Midwest for another dimension as they seem genuine throughout making their Gulliver like travels seem authentic. This one sitting saga is worth the journey.

Harriet Klausner

Song of the Crow
Layne Maheu
Unbridled Books, Jun 2006, $23.95
ISBN 1932961186

I Am the crow is upset as he observes the Man-Beast named Noah chopping at his home, a Giant tree containing his nest. I Am thinks he has had enough troubles in his life from being an orphan at a young age while his sibling My Other cannot believe that the Man-Beast would destroy their abode. I Am does not trust those who live in the deadly “underworld” where predators and food reside.

To his surprise, I Am realizes that he understands the language of the God Crow directing Noah to build an ark nowhere near the sea, which makes no sense to the crow. Subsequently as other Man-Beasts plead with Noah to take them on board his ship, I Am also knows what they are saying about an upcoming flood that will soon destroy the world. Just before the torrential rains come, I Am stows away on Noah’s vessel.

Though the nomenclature and vernacular used by I Am can be difficult to follow at times, SONG OF THE CROW is a terrific allegory that looks closely at Noah’s Ark through the personification of a crow. I Am is a fabulous protagonist struggling to survive in a dangerous world about to become eradicated. Mindful (at least of the clips I have seen) of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”, fans of biblical fables will appreciate Layne Maheu’s look at heaven and earth on the eve of destruction.

Harriet Klausner

DragonKnight
Donita K. Paul
WaterBrook, Jun 2006, $13.99
ISBN: 1400072506

Leaving Castle Pelacce, squire Bardon heads with his dragon Grier to an isolated mountain retreat so that he can meditate before he pledges his allegiance to Wulder and in turn becomes a knight. However, his solitude is interrupted before it begins when an elderly woman and her beautiful granddaughter are at the cabin retreat. The elderly Kye believes that Bardon is destined to help her though he says otherwise as she feels there is a reason that fate brought them to meet like this. Kye believes that Bardon and her granddaughter N’Rae will rescue the latter’s father Sir Jilles comatose in a chamber. Bardon believes otherwise.

However, after needing rescues by Grier and N’Rae he begins to reconsider. He soon not only learns that other knights have been captured and put to sleep and concludes that his destiny resides with the two females who ruined his isolation before he had his first moment to reflect.

DRAGON KNIGHT is an entertaining romantic fantasy starring likeable heroes not ready for prime time forced to enter the fray. The action-packed story line is fast-paced with Grier providing some comic relief as he constantly rescues his human mate. Bardon and N’Rae are a fine pairing starting with her rescuing him (becoming the norm for the future knight) and continuing as their quest expands from saving her father to saving the realm. As with DRAGONSPELL and DRAGONQUEST, Donita K. Paul provides an entertaining coming of age fantasy.

Harriet Klausner

The Hammer of Darkness
L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Tor, June 2006, $13.95, 288 pp.
ISBN 076531567x

With a Query next to his name Martin Martel is unable to live as a student on the planet Karnak and his girlfriend Kryn, the duke’s daughter, has the guards fire at him when she realized he was an esper. The Brotherhood takes him to Aurore a planet many scientists believe should not exist, a place where people with esper powers have a chance to grow into them and use them at will.

It is also a place where gods walk among the populace; only Martel believes at first they are more powerful espers such as the galaxy has never seen and the god rule to keep from getting bored. Martel has the potential to become one of them but because he turns his back on them, both sides know a confrontation will eventually occur. A millennium has passed and Martel is viewed as a god by the people who worship him, he can control his powers which are greater than the so called gods and Kryn is now the Viceroy ruler of a galaxy. Martel does the impossible to get what he wants and if he is successful, for the first time in a thousand years, he will finally be happy.

THE HAMMER OF DARKNESS is a reprint of a book first published in 1985. Although the plot is not as fast-paced and exciting as the later works of L.E. Modesitt, Jr., it is evident by the storyline that he showed back then he was destined to be a highly regarded master storyteller. What hasn’t changed in over two decades is his ability to create characters that are interesting and larger than life placed in a future setting.

Harriet Klausner

In Fury Born
David Webber
Baen, Apr 2006, $27.00
ISBN: 1416520546

Alice Deries was a loyal Imperial Marine and Drop Commando doing what was necessary for the Empire though she saw many of her peers die in combat. However, a political decision that cost unnecessary lives of her brethren left her outraged and her loyalty shaken as she realizes they are just pawns of the powerful; Alice resigns her commission and starts a sedate family life on Mathison.

Space pirates arrive at Mathison destroying the colony. The Empire proves either inept or corrupt or as Alice believes both as they fail to capture the murderous plunderers who killed her family. No longer caring what happens to her, Alice decides to provide justice for those who died in vain when she was military and on Mathison starting with the pirates and anyone connected to them including as she suspects the highest levels of Imperial power.

IN FURY BORN is an expansion of the highly regarded PATH OF THE FURY by mostly adding the early background that led to Alicia becoming an avenging angel. The story line is action packed as Alicia performs impossible superhero feats for much of the book. When she is not doing the superwoman deeds she receives reader empathy as fans will understand why she went over the edge; when she is doing the unachievable, her opponents receive some sympathy as everyone expects Alicia to succeed. David Webber provides a fun outer space thriller of the lone cowgirl kicking the butt of government, military, and pirates.

Harriet Klausner

The Last Mortal Man
Syne Mitchell
Roc, June 2006, $6.99, 448 pp.
ISBN 0451460944

The twenty fourth century is a whole new world where nano-biology has advanced to the point where cities can be grown and those who can afford it can be converted to the Deathless, immortals who never age, fall ill or need sleep or food. Lucius Sterling founded the nano-biology firm and he decides who will be immortal or not depending on if they can meet his price and if they are useful. His most trusted employee is Alexia, a Deathless who once tried to kill him but now watches his back against his many enemies.

Lucius had the scientist who created mano-biology grow his own nation island Elysium where he is the ruler. While Alexa is the one person he trusts, Jack, his great-grandson is the one being he loves. Jack develops an allergy to nano-biology and must live in a dead zone in Watershed Valley, Montana a place free of the Deathless. He is called back to Elysium because Lucius has discovered that someone has created a dissembler that destroys nano-biology. He wants Alexa and Jack to find where it is being produced and stop it. While they search for it, whole cities are destroyed and millions of people die. Unless they can stop it from being used, civilization and most of the world’s population will be destroyed.

Syne Mitchell’s opening book in her new series “The Deathless” is an exciting seat of your pants, science fiction thriller. The two protagonists are likeable and understandable characters who together make a team that is capable of solving the impossible. The wonders of future civilization in the twenty forth century dazzle the audiences with its advancements and higher standards of living. There are few authors who can match Ms. Mitchell’s believable world building.

Harriet Klausner