Servant of a Dark God, by John Brown

One book I’ve been hearing a lot about lately is Servant of a Dark God by John Brown. This book, Brown’s debut novel, is published by Tor Books and was just recently released in mid-October. I looked him up on the web and found the author is offering the first 60 pages or so as a preview.

I haven’t read the entire novel, but based on the sample pages, I found the novel a bit gruesome and dark, but the writer in me can appreciate the fact that, wow, this guy can write. He definitely knows how to evoke the reader’s emotions. Before long, I found myself forgetting I was trying to critique the book and instead was caught up in the story. Books 2 and 3 in the series are: Curse of a Dark God (to be released in 2010) and Dark God’s Glory (to be released in 2011).

You can find the sample pages here: http://johndbrown.com/novels/
The author’s website is here: http://johndbrown.com
You can find more info on the book here.

A Classic: Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold!, Terry Brooks

I didn’t discover how much I liked fantasy fiction until about 10 years ago and since then I’ve come to realize how many books I’ve missed out on. As a result, when I come across an older classic that someone has mentioned or recommended, I put it on my tentative list of books I’d like to read. I figure if it’s an older book and someone still remembers it, it must be worth checking out. And then there are cases of pure serendipity.

Last week, a reader stopped by to comment on a recent post (Online Chat with Christopher Paolini and Terry Brooks), he mentioned that I had omitted a few books on a list of works by Terry Brooks. Some of those were the Landover books.

Saturday, when I stopped by our public library to check out their annual used book sale, I found a copy of Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold!, Book 1 in the Landover series, and took it home. Since I had just heard about it, how could I resist? Later that afternoon, I picked it up to read the first few pages and ended up reading the entire book. What a great escape. I found Magic Kingdom For Sale–Sold! to be a funny, laugh-out-loud kind of book.

Here’s the blurb:

Landover was a genuine magic kingdom, with fairy folk and wizardry, just as the advertisement had promised. But after he purchased it, Ben Holiday learned that there were a few details the ad had failed to mention.

The kingdom was in ruin. The Barons refused to recognize a king, and the peasants were without hope. A dragon was laying waste the countryside, while an evil witch plotted to destroy everything.

Ben’s only followers were the incompetent Court Magician, Abernathy, the talking dog who served as Court Scribe; and the lovely Willow–but she had a habit of putting down roots in the moonlight and turning into a tree. The Paladin, legendary champion and the Kings of Landover, seemed to be only a myth and an empty suit of armor.

To put the final touch on the whole affair, Ben soon learned that the Iron Mark, terrible lord of the demons, had challenged all prospective Kings of Landover to a duel to the death–a duel which no human could hope to win.

The task of proving his right to be King seemed hopeless. But Ben Holiday was stubborn…

I give Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold! 4 stars out of 5. For more info on the book, click here.

Fire in the Mist, By Holly Lisle

“Fire in the Mist” was published in 1992 by Baen and in 1993 was the winner of the Compton Crook Award, granted by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society for the best first novel of the year.

As I was wandering around the web, I stumbled across fantasy author Holly Lisle and her writer’s course called Thinking Sideways. The concept for the course seemed more unique than others I had seen and so, intrigued, I sat down and read through her website to get the full story.

Holly currently has more than 30 books in print. I always find it fascinating to see where authors began and as I read, I found Holly does indeed have an interesting story. Her first book, “Fire in the Mist”, was apparently born out of a difficult time in her life and was a result of an I-can-do-it-no-matter-what-they-say attitude. She admits to making mistakes along the way to becoming a published author, including quitting her job too soon to begin writing full-time, but she has had the determination and persistence to make it work nonetheless. Given her story of personal struggles and subsequent success, I wanted to read the first book Holly saw published in order to completely see the story behind this author’s beginnings.

The main character in “Fire in the Mist”, Faia, is a peasant girl who loses her entire village to plague, all except one lad. Faia was born with certain magical abilities, which she had never really focused on except as needed to help tend and protect her sheep. When she follows a premonition and leads her sheep down from the hills back to her village, Faia finds her mother dead and buried and most of her village lying dead in their beds, leaving Faia and the young lad no choice but to leave their home behind. Knowing there is no way just the two of them can bury everyone, Faia decides to burn the town with faeriefire, thus stopping the decay and plague while giving her friends and family the best burial she can. In her grief, however, she calls down more faeriefire than she intended or realized, enough to rob the magic from all other spells in the land. Needless to say, this greatly disturbs the other magicians and they set out to find and contain whoever was responsible for such a great and potentially harmful display of magic.

I hesitate to summarize any further and thus spoil the story for anyone who might want to read the book. I will say this, however, the magic system in “Fire in the Midst” is a nature-based combination of earth and air. Since the time the book was published in 1992, this type of magic system has become a tired convention from overuse, but I doubt that was the case when Holly wrote the book. Overall, I found the book solidly written and it kept me reading to the end.

You can read Chapter One of “Fire in the Mist” here: http://www.baen.com/library/0671721321/0671721321.htm.

…and you can download an entire free copy from Baen in a variety of formats here: http://www.baen.com/library. (I chose a prc file and read the book on my Treo.) If you want to purchase a hardcopy, you can click on the book cover above.

Now I’m thinking it might be interesting to find one of Holly’s newer books and compare the two. (Ah, yes, that is my idea of fun, bookworm that I am.) Meanwhile, I’m willing to listen a bit more closely to what Holly has to say about writing fiction. She has earned my respect.

You can find Holly Lisle on the web at: http://hollylisle.com

DragonLight, by Donita K. Paul

It’s taken me a while to get to DragonLight, which was published in 2008, not for lack of interest but because I was reading it with my daughter and we were having a hard time finishing it together. You know how it is, life happens. When I found out the next book on the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour was Mrs. Paul’s recently published new book, Vanishing Sculptor, I figured I’d better get with it and finish DragonLight. From the preliminary information, the two books are set in the same universe but different timelines. As such, I suppose I didn’t have to finish DragonLight, but the perfectionist in me protested. My kids and I had already read the other four books in the series and it just didn’t seem right not to finish.

Here is the summary that appears on the back of the book:

The fantastic land of Amara is recovering from years of war as well as from the spiritual apathy corroding the Amarans’ hearts. With Kale and her father serving as dragon keepers for Paladin, the dragon populace has exploded. It’s a peaceful, exciting time of rebuilding. And yet, an insidious, unseen evil lurks just beneath the surface of the idyllic countryside.

As Kale and her father are busy hatching, bonding, and releasing the younger generation of dragons, the light wizard has little time to develop her skills. Her husband, Sir Bardon – despite physical limitations – has become a leader, serving under Paladin. When Kale and Bardon join the dragons on a quest to find a hidden colony, they encounter sinister forces. Their world is under attack by a secret enemy…can they overcome the ominous peril they can’t even see?

DragonLight, the final book in Mrs. Paul’s DragonKeeper series, did answer several questions posed in the previous books, which was good for me because I really don’t like loose ends not resolved at the end of a book/series. In fact, I think that if you are interested in reading the series, you definitely should start at the beginning or you will miss quite a bit.

Overall, DragonLight is an excellent YA book and I would definitely recommend the entire DragonKeeper series to any young lover of fantasy, particularly those ages 9–12. Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to revisiting Amara in Vanishing Sculptor. Stay tuned for that review in a few weeks.

The DragonKeeper series was published by Waterbrook Press. The previous books are (in order): DragonSpell, DragonQuest, DragonKnight, DragonFire

Donita K. Paul’s website: http://www.donitakpaul.com

Fablehaven 3: Grip of the Shadow Plague, By Brandon Mull

On the enthusiastic recommendation of a friend of mine, I am continuing to work my way through Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven books. I have been warned however, that I might get hooked and Book 5 is not yet out. (Furthermore, it won’t be out until Spring 2010.)  Now that I have read the first three books in the series, I can see the danger. But I will gamely press on. …Ok, the truth is, I’m having a lot of fun reading these books.

Grip of the Shadow Plague continues the saga unfolding at the Fablehaven preserve for magical beings. Unfortunately for these creatures, someone or something has unleashed a plague on the preserve that turns beings of light into creatures of darkness who then try to bite the creatures of light and turn them into dark creatures as well. The plague begins to spread rapidly over Fablehaven, threatening to overrun the preserve altogether. The Sorenson’s, grandparents of Kendra and Seth, desperately need help to save the preserve, but their old ally, the Sphinx, has been behaving oddly and fears run rampant that he may actually be a traitor. Meanwhile, Kendra and a couple of her fellow Knights of the Dawn rush to another distant preserve in an effort to keep one of the few remaining artifacts out of the Society’s hands.

“When jumping is the sole option, you jump.”

This has got to be my favorite line in the book. It certainly fits the story well. Several times, the heroes in the book have no choice but to jump and take their chances that all will end well. While the book is written for a YA audience, I found enough suspense, particularly in the last half of the book, to keep me going well into the night until I finished the book.

So who is author Brandon Mull? This graduate of Brigham Young University started working on his first full-length novel after completing his degree in 2000. After the book was rejected by many agents and publishers, Brandon’s talents caught the attention of an editor at Shadow Mountain Publishing. While the publisher did not buy that book, they asked to see something else and thus Fablehaven was born.

At this point, the first three Fablehaven books are out in paperback (Book 3 was more than 470 pages). To the best of my knowledge, Book 4 is still available only in hardcover. But more on that later. I have to go know. I have a date on the magical preserve of Fablehaven.

If you want more details on Fablehaven 3, here’s a link.

Veil of Lies, by Jeri Westerson

New Paperback Cover, Available October 2009

Anything that says “medieval” immediately catches my attention. So when I saw a local author had written a novel classified as “Medieval Noir,” I was instantly interested. Then my second thought was to wonder what “Medieval Noir” was. As it turns out, Ms. Westerson has created her own little sub-genre of medieval mystery, something she describes as “darker, edgier, with hard-hitting action and characters with dirty little secrets.”

“Veil of Lies” is the first Ms. Westerson’s books relating the adventures of Crispin Guest, a down-on-his-luck, former knight turned detective in medieval London. The books opens with Crispin Guest already ostracized from the noble classes after convicted of treason against the king. Lucky to escape with his life, Crispin is left on the streets with nothing but the clothes on his back. In order to earn enough money to buy food, he hires himself out as a detective of sorts to those willing and able to pay.

The main plot in “Veil of Lies” centers around a case that Crispin reluctantly agrees to take, a husband looking to verify the fidelity or infidelity of his wife. When he discovers that there is indeed something up with the man’s wife, he returns to report his findings, only to find his client murdered. But this is not just any murder, but a murder committed inside a sealed room, locked from the inside. And thus begins a tale steeped in mystery.

I admit I don’t read a lot of mysteries, so it was fun to change gears for a bit and read a mystery with the added bonus of a medieval twist. Furthermore, I found “Veil of Lies” to be extremely well written. Ms. Westerson obviously researched her time period thoroughly. All the little details were spot on, from the food people ate to the carriages they rode in. I could almost feel the mud in the streets in the poorer parts of the city as well as the cold mist of London fog.

Throughout the book, I found the plot twisting this way and that, which kept me delightfully guessing until the end. If you can’t tell, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

(For parents with smaller kids, this is not YA but an adult book, primarily due to a couple of scenes with mild sensuality that was, nonetheless, tastefully written.)

The “Veil of Lies” hardcover was published by St. Martin’s Minotaur in November 2008. Veil of Lies comes out in paperback October. Details here. The sequel, “Serpent in the Thorns” will be released in September 2009.

For more information on the author, visit: http://www.jeriwesterson.com
Or her blog at: http://jeriwesterson.typepad.com
In addition, Crispin Guest has his own website at: http://www.crispinguest.com