Lodestone: The Sea of Storms
Mark Whiteway
VBW Publishing, May 200, $14.95
www.virtualbookworm.com
ISBN: 9781602645462

On Kelanni, people are disposable with their solo mission to mine “Lodestone” for use by the planet’s great dictator. The Prophet who rules the orb is the grandmaster of using the lodestone resource that comes to Kelanni in meteor showers. His powerful extremely loyal Keltar Knights insure no one tries to rebel.

Lyall vehemently rejects the Prophet and the concept of slavery. He vows with his best friend Alondo to overthrow the violent despot. When he meets Shann, who wants the Prophet’s reign of terror to end , he teaches her his knowledge of lodestone. The prophet learns of the growing unrest and he sends Keris the Keltar to brutally destroy the rebels using them as an example for others to obey. She has doubts about her vocation and her current mission. When a giant bird attacks her, a Chandara saves her life. Boxx the Chandara informs Keris of her leader’s evil plans so she joins Lyall and his insurgents.

Once author Mark Whiteway establish the relativity laws of physics (and astrophysics) in his universe, the first Lodestone tale is a terrific science fiction thriller that in many ways reads like a fantasy. The world of Kelanni is what makes this a strong opening entry as readers will feel they are there along side of Keris as she begins to doubt what she believed all her life was gospel. Fans who enjoy something different yet exciting in their outer space novels will want to read Mr. Whiteway’s entertaining take on despots, rebels and negative matter.

Harriet Klausner

The Black Prism
Brent Weeks
Orbit, Aug 25 2010, $25.99
ISBN: 9780316075558

He had been the Prism who controlled the magic of the Chromeria. However that seems like eternity as he lost the civil war to his brother Gavin, the current Prism. Everyday since Gavin incarcerated him in a dungeon beneath heir home. Jacen sees a world of dispiritingly gray; he lives hoping to regain the colors he lost to his sibling.

Gavin may be an intelligent High priest-Emperor who controls the Prism since he defeated his sibling by using guile, but he knows what happened to his brother could occur to him as Prisms have relatively short life cycle usage. Once his prism dies, he will die too. Gavin knows his prism has five years of life left; five years for him to accomplish five unattainable quests or his world will lose all color and consequently all life.

Gavin is stunned to learn he sired a son. Kip will have the power of the Prism, untrained. The lad could be the opponent in the next war of power. At the same the son learns who his dad and uncle are and begins to find out about the sibling splintering, but is unsure what he should do as increasingly he fears the world is going to implode if the colors run out.

The opening tale in the Black prism fantasy is an exhilarating thriller that uses the colors of a prism as the source of magic. The story line focuses on the three male leads while cleverly interweaving the Weeks’ “physics” of magic into the plot. Fast-paced and character driven, fans will enjoy the first act as the Prime Prism practitioner begins a quest knowing he must remain vigilant watching for his son and his insane brother; failure will mean death or worse a lunacy to parallel that of colorless Gavin who once tasted the power of the colors.

Harriet Klausner

Will Power
A.J. Hartley
Tor, Sep 14 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780765321251

The Diamond Empire guards have Will Hawthorne and his gang of thieves at the Waterman, he knows they are lost as the doors crash open. However, they escape as they scatter across the city. Will owes his life to Mithos. At the Fisherman’s Arms, they meet Ambassador Linassi who manages to get them out of the city.

When Linassi’s coach stops, Will or Mithos has no idea where they are as this land is different than anything he has ever seen. He and his comrade are welcomed by the Fair Folk who are at war with the Goblins. Since the fair Folk are very nice to them and look human while the enemy looks like a horror version of Goblins, the outsiders assume they are on the side of the good guys. However, Will begins to doubt what he initially accepted as gospel although the beer is quite good.

This is a superb tale as the antihero manages to land in one misadventure after another. The story line is incredibly fast-paced and the incidents purposely exaggerated. With the jocular escapades, fans will toast (with beer of course) as A.J. Hartley cleverly weaves throughout the strong saga a warning to never judge a book by its cover as Will begins to wonder who the monsters truly are

Harriet Klausner

Do Unto Others
Michael Z. Williamston
Baen, Aug 3 2010, $22.00
ISBN: 9781439133835

Minors Bryan Prescot and his family invented technology that enabled the mining of planets in the most inhospitable places. The invention made him and his kin the richest people in the universe. On the down side, many unscrupulous people see the Prescot brood as targets to be mined.

To keep his daughter Caron safe, Bryan hires the Ripple Creek Security firm whose guiding vision is protect the client at all costs. The magnificent six (Jason, Artemis, Alex, Bart, Shaman, and Elke) guard Caron with their lives; each vows to remain vigil as they pledge no harm will come to her. . However, an unknown adversary has sent a horde to kill the girl and her protectors. She has the sextet who doesn’t feel too concerned that they face an army that could take a planet but only need to take out one person. To the six keeping Caron safe is their business even if they have to nuke their way to keeping their client safe.

This is a wild outer space caper as the odds are overwhelming in favor of the thugs kidnapping Caron and killing all on her side. However, the magnificent six plus the miners defend her so don’t bet against Caron and her protective cronies. Over the top with nothing new as Michael Z. Williamston takes the honorable mercenary Magnificent Seven from Mexico into Outer Space (with six) to fight amoral ruthless outlaws. Yet knowing this going in, readers will enjoy every page of the confrontation as Mr. Williamston will not need to beg forgiveness from his fans with this entertaining thriller.

Harriet Klausner

A Mighty Fortress
David Weber
Tor, Apr 2010, $27.99
ISBN: 9780765315052

Not yet thirty years old, many believe that Cayleb Ahrmahk is the greatest naval officer in history. His victories are legendary as he defeated handily the combined forces of five princedoms. On a personal level, his success at sea enabled him to meet, court, and marry Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm. On Safehold, the pair forge the Charisian Empire built on his naval prowess.

However, their most powerful adversary on Safehold, Church of God Awaiting, has declared the regime’s rulers heretics and must be destroyed. Their first endeavor failed as the Church faithful failed to use the technology of the Charisian Empire. The second assault is an armada unlike anything in the history of Safehold. However, their foes do not have warrior-monk named Merlin Athrawes on their side. Merlin is the cybernetic avatar of a long dead female Nimue Alban, who died while watching the Terran Federation on numerous planets destroyed; Safehold is the last human stronghold and inadvertently the Church is leading the final extinction.

The latest Safehold science fiction thriller (see By Heresies Distressed) is a great continuation of the struggle for First Amendment type rights and freedoms from a church controlling society. The world of Safehold is incredibly developed as readers obtain a deep look at a culture run by a religious dominated caste system that compares unfavorably to the freedom of the relatively small Charisian Empire. With a strong cast (though the hero feels like a Harrington clone) fans will relish David Weber’s powerful condemnation of church equals state; or for that matter any oligopoly controlling all aspects of society by oppressing freedom.

Harriet Klausner

Mission of Honor
David Weber
Baen, Jun 22 2010, $27.00
ISBN 9781439133613

The seemingly endless war (a dozen books worth) between the Star Empire of Manticore and the Republic of Haven is finally drawing to a conclusion. The Manties have all but won. However, the Empire leadership believes they must further cripple the enemy as they distrust the idea that the other side wants peace as they would not if the situation was reversed.

Admiral Honor Harrington is almost all alone amidst the top brass in her belief that the Republic wants to end the conflict. She leads a group to the Havenite system to negotiation the terms of peace. However, the peace in our times is devastated when a sneak attack on the Manticoran worlds occur while the Solarian League flexes its muscle at the same time as they distrust the apparent winner of the war especially when they claim the Manties have provoked them with vicious attacks.

Fans of military science fiction will be euphoric with the return of Harrington who struggles with political and military leaders and bureaucracies as too many of those chicken hawks in charge who never left the office cannot see passed their ambition to the horror of battle (think Cheney vs. Eisenhower). Fast-paced from start to finish, Honor works on a peace agreement when new conflations erupt. Once again David Weber provides a strong winner in one of the top sub-genre series as the aptly titled Mission of Honor takes readers on quite a spin.

Harriet Klausner

The Shadows: The Books of Elsewhere
Jacqueline West
Dial (Penguin), Jun 15 2010, $16.99
ISBN: 9780803734401

The Dunwoody family move into a fixer upper Victorian mansion left vacant when elderly Ms. McMartin died. Eleven year old Olive finds the house odd, but her mathematical minded parents see nothing out of the ordinary starting with the inability to remove the strange drawings from the wall, but upon a closer look she sees things moving inside the paintings.

Looking around the house, Olive finds glasses that she puts on for fun. Instead of blur, she realizes she enter the pictures and travel in a realm that sort of looks like her natural one, but seems shadowy and too quiet to the stunned tweener. Horatio the cat warns her not to stay too long in their world and never lose the glasses if she is on this side of the frame. Olive also meets raging Morton who claims he is from her side of the divide, but was thrown into the picture world because he knew too much. As she learns more about the house and its contents, Olive fears something evil wants to keep her silent in order for her not to reveal what the darkness wants to do to the light.

With illustrations from Poly Bernatene enhancing the strong haunted house mystery, Jacqueline West provides an exhilarating middle school age tale. Fast-paced, young readers will want to join courageous Olive as she investigates the goings-on inside the painting world and the house, but is unsure who to trust with her growing concerns especially in light of her parents thinking logically that she is playing make believe.

Harriet Klausner

Healer
Linda Windsor
David C. Cook, Jun 28 2010, $14.99
ISBN: 9781434764782

In the sixth century in Alba, Brenna’s mother the powerful healing witch Queen Joanna of Gowrys abruptly awakens from a frightening vision of the destruction of her subclan caused by Chieftain Tarlach O’Byrne. The powerful Tarlach still rages at Joanna for her audacity to marry someone else when they were an obvious pairing due to ancestry. He has never forgiven her for defying their destiny by her marrying her beloved Llas. Tarlach leads the O’Byrne clan on a deadly vengeance, but before she dies Joanna curses him with the prediction that her offspring will divide his brood leading to peace for everyone.

Taking her death words gravely serious Tarlach hunts for Brenna who was taken to the woods by her cousin Ealga her nurse and raised there. When her surrogate mom Ealga dies, Brenna has no other human to talk to and her only companion is Faol the wolf. As they have done for two decades, the O’Byrne clan searches for Joanna’s daughter. Tarlach’s heir Ronan leads the hunt, but he is hurt and dying. Brenna, a healer on a par with her late mom, saves his life, but by doing so exposes herself to her enemy.

The first Brides of Alba Christian Arthurian fantasy is a strong opening act that follows up nicely with a fresh arc from the Fires of Gleannmara trilogy. The story line is fast-paced for the most part especially when Ealga flees with her infant cousin to raise her safely in the woods and continues when the two clan heirs meet. The tale slows down a bit after Ronal heals, but regains speed into the final turn. Fans will relish the return to Linda Windsor’s strong Christian Arthurian mythos with the saga of the healer.

Harriet Klausner

Healer
Linda Windsor
David C. Cook, Jun 28 2010, $14.99
ISBN: 9781434764782

In the sixth century in Alba, Brenna’s mother the powerful healing witch Queen Joanna of Gowrys abruptly awakens from a frightening vision of the destruction of her subclan caused by Chieftain Tarlach O’Byrne. The powerful Tarlach still rages at Joanna for her audacity to marry someone else when they were an obvious pairing due to ancestry. He has never forgiven her for defying their destiny by her marrying her beloved Llas. Tarlach leads the O’Byrne clan on a deadly vengeance, but before she dies Joanna curses him with the prediction that her offspring will divide his brood leading to peace for everyone.

Taking her death words gravely serious Tarlach hunts for Brenna who was taken to the woods by her cousin Ealga her nurse and raised there. When her surrogate mom Ealga dies, Brenna has no other human to talk to and her only companion is Faol the wolf. As they have done for two decades, the O’Byrne clan searches for Joanna’s daughter. Tarlach’s heir Ronan leads the hunt, but he is hurt and dying. Brenna, a healer on a par with her late mom, saves his life, but by doing so exposes herself to her enemy.

The first Brides of Alba Christian Arthurian fantasy is a strong opening act that follows up nicely with a fresh arc from the Fires of Gleannmara trilogy. The story line is fast-paced for the most part especially when Ealga flees with her infant cousin to raise her safely in the woods and continues when the two clan heirs meet. The tale slows down a bit after Ronal heals, but regains speed into the final turn. Fans will relish the return to Linda Windsor’s strong Christian Arthurian mythos with the saga of the healer.

Harriet Klausner

Revenant
Phaedra Weldon
Ace, Jun 2010, $15.00
ISBN: 9780441018659

Zoe Martinique conceals from her mom and her friends the changes that occurred to her from her recent combat with the Phantasm (see Phantasm). She is unsure how anyone will react to her new skill of becoming a wraith that can traverse the abysmal plane, but also can take her body with her to this place where only the astral self travels. However, Zoe is not the only essence who knows of her new talent. Her adversarial mentor Archer is more than aware as he is instructing her; his motive is simple - he is linked to Zoe to the extent that if she dies so does he.

In Atlanta, at the same time Zoe is receiving an education, a malevolent being is targeting Revenant First Borns, who bonded with humans by draining their blood. Zoe wonders if someone has found and deployed the incantation that can kill First Borns and the Phantasm; and if so she considers the possibility that the spell within the Grimoire is what bonded with Dags’ soul. She knows one truism: trust no one; albeit she hides her latest skill from family and friend.

The latest Martinique urban fantasy is a terrific entry in a fabulous series (see WRAITH and SPECTRE). As with the three previous tales, the story line is character driven predominantly by the beleaguered heroine although it is action-packed as well.. Something is exhuming the blood of the First Borns and as much as Zoe would prefer to ignore it she cannot. Phaedra Weldon’s latest Atlanta underground urban fantasy is a fantastic thriller.

Harriet Klausner