Review: The Iron Wyrm Affair–Lilith Saintcrow

 

 

The Iron Wyrm Affair is a terrifically mad romp through Londinium, a place riven with magic, the force of which renews itself with the tide of Londinium’s great river Themis.  The young Queen Victrix, inhabited by Britannia’s living spirit, requests one of her Primes, particularly potent sorcerers, to investigate the sudden murders and attendant disappearances of her mentaths, who are brilliant thinkers.

The Prima, in this case a female, sets off with her Shield, the mysterious and oh so sexy Mykal, to ensure one mentath’s safely, arriving only moments before he too would have been killed. The three of them set out to discover who is killing the mentaths and just what he and his cronies are up to.

Terrific world-building, innovative and complex characters, and an intriguing plot.  Highly recommended.

I can’t wait for book two.

Review: MIssion to Paris by Alan Furst

 

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and it is part of an on-going series, but didn’t suffer from that at all.

Very good spy mystery with great atmosphere and intriguing twists and turns. Very likeable characters as well.

Set in Paris just before WWII when the Nazis were busy attempting psychological warfare on France. An Austrian émigré to the US, goes to Paris to film a movie and finds himself being forced into a position to seem to be backing the Nazis.

Review: The Killing Moon–N.K. Jemisin

N.K. Jemisin creates a world dark, complex and intricate. The magic is based on dreams and is different enough to make a reader pause and have to consider it deeply. The characters are written with depth and compassion, and are fully realized. They're put in a world we don't understand, and one they, also, don't fully grasp.

If you like your fantasy dark and deep, characters you can nearly see standing before you, and a plot that confounds, but delivers in the end, then The Killing Moon is for you.

Review: The Eight by Katherine Neville

The Game. Played by kings and generals and grand masters.  The game of strategy taking intellect and concentration and dedication to truly understand it.

Catherine hasn’t ever paid much attention to chess, although she knows several competitive players, mainly a young woman she finds annoying.  So when Lily invites her to go to the latest chess match Cat is less than interested.  But then she keeps seeing this man in a white hoodie riding a bicycle, and its disturbing, since she’s been painting the guy for weeks. She finally follows him.  And thus, she enters the Game.

Who are the players? Who’s white, who’s black? What are they after?  What’s the endgame they’re playing for? And why, suddenly, is Cat finding dead bodies strewn around New York?

An exiting thriller, covering a wide canvas in both time and distance. The Game takes Catherine from New York to Algiers, following in the footsteps of a French Nun from 1792,  as she searches for the pieces of a very special chess set,  to find and protect a secret that’s threatened the world since Charlemagne.