Romantic Times: [4.5 of 5 stars] When it comes to writing historical fantasy that is at once absorbing, exciting and incredibly moving, Kowal is in a class by herself. Just as Kowal’s previous book, Without a Summer, blended elements of fantasy with a very real depiction of class struggle, Valour and Vanity balances the adventure of a heist with a poignant portrayal of sudden poverty. Kowal’s skill for writing characters who have fantastic abilities and yet remain deeply human, as susceptible to their own insecurities as anyone you or I know, is just part of what makes her one of the best talents in fantasy.
May 162014
May 16, 2014
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Constellation 3, a new volume collecting short stories set in their popular Liaden Universe, to Toni Weisskopf at Baen Books by Jennifer Jackson.
Debut novelist Seth Dickinson’s THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT, an epic fantasy geopolitical tragedy pitched as Game of Thrones meets Germs, Guns and Steel, and two additional novels to Marco Palmieri at Tor Books in a pre-empt by Jennifer Jackson.
Romantic Times: [4 of 5 stars] The conclusion of the Eternal Sky series, Steles of the Sky has a lot to offer. The most incredible aspects of these stories are the well-created characters, who inhabit a rich, imaginative world. Bear shows admirable skill in balancing the fantastical aspects with the believability of her characters, adding a healthy does of gritty realism of human beings locked in battle, be it emotional, physical or the clash of kings.
Elizabeth Bear’s The Lotus Kingdoms, a new fantasy trilogy set in the same world as The Eternal Sky, in which a brass automaton with a soul, the disenfranchised servant of a dead Caliph, and a priest with one golden eye are drawn into a high stakes political game involving two queens and the fate of their kingdoms, to Beth Meacham at Tor Books by Jennifer Jackson.