#Sunday Post – 6th May, 2018 #Brainfluffbookblog

This is part of the weekly meme over at the Caffeinated Reviewer, where book bloggers can share the books and blogs they have written.

And the sun is shining! Yesterday my sister and I wandered along the beach eating ice creams and watching the sun glinting on the water at Littlehampton beach. It’s been a much easier week, I’m glad to say.

On Monday evening, I had a particularly wonderful Creative Writing lesson – my students rose magnificently to the writing exercise and the quality of the writing we heard had me walking out of the room on air. I always enjoy my teaching – but that was definitely a golden moment… On Thursday, my wonderful friend, Mhairi came over for more talk about books and marketing and suchlike – and the dark arts are looking a little less murky. I am now working on the final book in my Sunblinded trilogy, Breathing Space, going through the final editing phase and hope to have it out sometime in June/July… watch this space.

This week I have read:

The Hyena and the Hawk – Book 3 of the Echoes of the Falls by Adrian Tchaikovksy
Tchaikovsky’s epic fantasy trilogy, Echoes of the Fall, following The Bear and the Serpent. From the depths of the darkest myths, the soulless Plague People have returned. Their pale-walled camps obliterate villages, just as the terror they bring with them destroys minds. In their wake, nothing is left of the true people: not their places, not their ways. The Plague People will remake the world as though they had never been. The heroes and leaders of the true people – Maniye, Loud Thunder, Hesprec and Asman – will each fight the Plague People in their own ways. They will seek allies, gather armies and lead the charge. But a thousand swords or ten thousand spears will not suffice to turn back this enemy. The end is at hand for everything the true people know.
This was yet another in the fabulous run of books I’ve read, recently. A wonderful end to an outstanding series… I reviewed this one during the week.

Song of Blood and Stone – Book 1 of the Earthsinger Chronicles by L. Penelope
Orphaned and alone, Jasminda lives in a land where cold whispers of invasion and war linger on the wind. Jasminda herself is an outcast in her homeland of Elsira, where her gift of Earthsong is feared. When ruthless soldiers seek refuge in her isolated cabin, they bring with them a captive–an injured spy who threatens to steal her heart.
This was an interesting dystopian fantasy adventure that was a solid start to this series with an engaging protagonist. Recommended for fans of romance fantasy.

 

 

My posts last week:

Sunday Post – 29th April 2018

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of Before Mars – Book 3 of the Planetfall series by Emma Newman

Teaser Tuesday featuring Song of Blood and Stone – Book 1 of the Earthsinger Chronicles by L. Penelope

Can’t-Wait Wednesday featuring Furyborn – Book 1 of the Empirium by Claire Legrande

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of The Hyena and The Hawk – Book 3 of the Echoes of the Fall series by Adrian Tchaikovksy

Friday Face-off – The hand that writes and having writ moves me… featuring The Moving Finger – Book 4 of the Miss Marple Mysteries by Agatha Christie

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of Song of Blood and Stone – Book 1 of the Earthsinger Chronicles by L. Penelope

Interesting/outstanding blogs and articles that have caught my attention during the last week, in no particular order:

Have You Joined Our Banned Book Club? https://thisislitblog.com/2018/05/04/have-you-joined-our-banned-book-club-yet/ This sounds like a really cool idea – have a group read of a book that has previously been banned… Check it out.

All Is Ready for the Mars InSight Lander http://earthianhivemind.net/2018/05/04/ready-mars-insight-lander/ Steph has provided a fascinating video clip from NASA explaining what they hope to achieve with this new Mars mission.

Thursday Doors https://jeanreinhardt.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/thursday-doors-99/ Whether you use these wonderful photos as a writing prompt, or admire the wild, tumbledown beauty – these are a delight

The reality of a loss of faith
https://zenandtheartoftightropewalking.wordpress.com/2018/05/02/the-reality-of-a-loss-of-faith/ Viv’s articles are always worth reading – and this one is no exception…

Interview with Emma Newman https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2018/04/interview-with-emma-newman/ Emma Newman, author of the fabulous Planetfall series, discusses her writing in this riveting interview.

Have a great week and thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to visit, like and comment on my site.

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of KINDLE Ebook #The Hyena and the Hawk – Book 3 of the #Echoes of the Fall series by #Adrian Tchaikovsky #bookreview #Brainfluffbookreview

I’ve enjoyed the first two books in this fascinating, shape-shifting fantasy series and was looking forward to reading the final slice of this adventure – see my review of The Tiger and Wolf .

The Hyena and the Hawk is the third book in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s epic fantasy trilogy, Echoes of the Fall, following The Bear and the Serpent. From the depths of the darkest myths, the soulless Plague People have returned. Their pale-walled camps obliterate villages, just as the terror they bring with them destroys minds. In their wake, nothing is left of the true people: not their places, not their ways. The Plague People will remake the world as though they had never been. The heroes and leaders of the true people – Maniye, Loud Thunder, Hesprec and Asman – will each fight the Plague People in their own ways. They will seek allies, gather armies and lead the charge. But a thousand swords or ten thousand spears will not suffice to turn back this enemy. The end is at hand for everything the true people know.

Anyone who has read my reviews for any length of time will know that I am a fan of Tchaikovsky’s writing, and this one did not disappoint. Once he has written a really good character, he doesn’t let them slip through his fingers. One of my problems with some epic fantasy stories is that a character I have strongly bonded to in the earlier books simply fades away or is dismissed in a couple of hasty paragraphs within the final instalment. Not so with Tchaikovsky. I loved Maniye, Loud Thunder, along with a number of other strong, nuanced characters who had powered the previous two books in this engrossing story, so I was delighted that all these characters took precedence in this desperate struggle against an overwhelming enemy.

While the action rolls forward in multiple viewpoint, Tchaikovsky manages to transition between the characters without any sense of jarring. This is harder than he makes it look. I am regularly slightly aggravated when been forced to pull away from a character, or find myself skimming one protagonist in favour of another. This simply doesn’t happen to me in a Tchaikovsky novel.

As for the story – as this is the third book in a tightly written series. I am not in a position to write much about the action, except to say that throughout this series, I kept waiting for the impetus and narrative to drop away slightly, as so often happens in epic fantasy stories – and it simply didn’t happen. This excellent series deserves to be far more widely read and is highly recommended for fans of gripping epic fantasy tales.
10/10

Teaser Tuesday – 25th April, 2018

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This is my choice of the day:

The Hyena and the Hawk – Book 3 of the Echoes of the Fall series by Adrian Tchaikovsky

44% Galethea had a hollow face. It was pleasant enough, but she had exactly the same yawning hunger behind her that all the enemy did. And yet, as she sat there trying to be meek and unthreatening, she did something to herself. Maniye never saw her change, but heartbeat to beartbeat it was as though she painted herself, thicker and thicker layers over that pale face until she was beautiful and the hollowness was all but hidden.

BLURB: From the depths of the darkest myths, the soulless Plague People have returned. Their pale-walled camps obliterate villages, just as the terror they bring with them destroys minds. In their wake, nothing is left of the true people: not their places, not their ways. The Plague People will remake the world as though they had never been. The heroes and leaders of the true people – Maniye, Loud Thunder, Hesprec and Asman – will each fight the Plague People in their own ways. They will seek allies, gather armies and lead the charge. But a thousand swords or ten thousand spears will not suffice to turn back this enemy. The end is at hand for everything the true people know.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series – see my review of The Tiger and the Wolf so was determined to get hold of this one when it came out. And I’m really glad I did… Once more Tchaikovsky’s vivid writing has pulled me into this engrossing, thought-provoking world.

Series I Have Continued or Completed in 2017 – Part 1

Over the past year, I’ve becoming increasingly conscious that I’ve getting into the habit of plunging into a series with a book that has caught my eye and simply not getting any further. Given my go-to genres heavily feature series books, which are always part of a longer narrative, this is a habit I’d like to break. So this year, I’ve decided to make myself more accountable by recording my progress with series that I have either completed, or brought right up to date – hence this post now that we’re more than halfway through this year.

The Tide Dragons duology by Sarah Ash
The Flood Dragon’s Sacrifice and Emperor of the Fireflies
This delightful fantasy series is strongly influenced by Japanese mythology and culture, so as well as the wonderful dragons of the title, there are kitsume and demons, emperors and generals and a formidable goddess all weaving through this richly textured world. I loved it and Emperor of the Fireflies is one of my outstanding books of the year so far.

 

The Wayfarers by Becky Chambers
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit
This science fiction space opera series made a big impact with the hit debut book which had a real vibe of the hit TV show Firefly as an ensemble piece, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The second book featured one of the ship’s crew and a waif who needed refuge and while it is set in the same world as the first book, you don’t need to have read it to appreciate what is going on. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed these two books and am keen to discover where Chambers next takes this series.

 

The Witchlands by Susan Dennard
Truthwitch and Windwitch
This epic fantasy initially features two young witches, Safi and Iseult, who manage to get themselves into an almighty scrape at the start of the first book, entangling them in a major plot. I like the fact that their friendship is one of the main emotional drivers throughout the story so far and that the magical system is structured with clear rules and involves a high price from magic-users. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the third book, Bloodwitch, due to come out next year.

 

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
Rebel of the Sands and Traitor to the Throne
I love this sand and sorcery adventure! Hamilton’s punchy writing style and vivid scene setting means both of these books have stayed with me as memorably enjoyable, exciting reads and I’m very much looking forward to the next book, which will hopefully arrive next year.

 

 

Echoes of the Fall by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Tiger and the Wolf and The Bear and the Serpent
This epic fantasy adventure takes place in a pre-agrarian world where clans divide depending on what animal they shape-shift into. Both books are full of incident and tension, along with splashes of humour as Tchaikovsky’s vivid, three-dimensional characters leapt off the page and into my heart. I’m very much hoping there is going to be more of this amazing story…

 

The Falconer trilogy by Elizabeth May
The Falconer; The Vanishing Throne and The Fallen Kingdom
This riveting series features a young, well-bred woman, Lady Aileana, who leads a double life – by day she is the wealthy heiress in an alternate Victorian society, while by night she hunts and kills the fae after witnessing her mother’s brutal murder. Violent and enthralling, this trilogy is one of the reading highlights of the year so far.

 

 

The Song of the Shattered Sands by Bradley Beaulieu
Twelve Kings and Blood Upon the Sand
This sand and sorcery epic fantasy is set in a brutal world ruled by twelve kings possessing great magical power – and the efforts of one lowly-born girl to overturn their stranglehold on the desert city-state. I loved the story so far and will be looking out for the third book, A Veil of Spears, due to be published next year.

 

Planetfall by Emma Newman
Planetfall and After Atlas
This dystopian science fiction series is amazing. Both books are set in the same world, but on different planets and can be read as standalones – I loved each one, though the tone and mood were quite different. After Atlas is my book of the year so far and I will be pouncing on the next book, Before Mars, just as soon as I can get my hands on it.

 

 

Luna by Ian McDonald
New Moon and Wolf Moon
This duology envisages that the industrialisation of the Moon has been divided between five families, all ruthless entrepreneurs who have taken capitalism to the extreme as they continue vying for yet more power – with shocking consequences. McDonald has called this series ‘a game of domes’. I loved the brutal, detailed world and the charismatic characters.

 

Penric and Desdemona novella series by Lois McMaster Bujold
Penric and the Demon; Penric and the Shaman; Penric’s Mission; Mira’s Last Dance
This series is a joy. Each one of these engrossing, beautifully written stories gives us another slice of Penric’s adventures as he copes with the demon he accidentally acquired while helping an elderly woman at the side of the road. Fortunately, Himself is also a serious fan and immediately buys up these gems as soon as they published. Quite right, too.

 

 

Peri Reed Chronicles by Kim Harrison
The Drafter and The Operator
Harrison explores a fascinating premise in this military science fiction thriller, where black ops agents are able to shift small amounts of time to kill or dodge attacks. The snag is that as they alter the timeline, they forget chunks of their lives with the aid of a drafter who helps them avoid a catastrophic neural overload that occurs if they remember more than one version of reality. This is really well done and I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining duology.

 

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
The Star-Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes
This lush, eastern-influenced classic fantasy duology is another one of those which is set in the same world with a few linking characters, but follows different storylines. Each one is a delight, full of incident and beautiful descriptions that pinged off the page and lit up cold rainy days as I read.

 

 

The Manifold Worlds series by Foz Meadows
An Accident of Stars and A Tyranny of Queens
This delightful portal worlds adventure is gritty, wise and astonishing. It is one of my favourite series with its emphasis on a number of nuanced, feisty female characters of all ages. This one has lodged in my head and won’t leave – particularly the poignant ending…

 

There are more to come – but I’ll be rounding up the others in another article.

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of KINDLE Ebook The Bear and the Serpent – Book 2 of Echoes of the Fall series by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Regulars to this site will know that Tchaikovsky is a favourite author of mine and last year I read and reviewed the first book, The Tiger and the Wolf, in this latest epic fantasy offering and loved it.

Maniye, child of Wolf and Tiger, has a new soul and a new shape. But as Champion of the Crown of the World, does she represent an opportunity for the North – or a threat? Travelling as a bodyguard to the Southern prince, with her warband of outcasts, she hopes to finally discover her true place in the world, though she is quickly pitchforked in the middle of a crisis that puts her at the eye of a political storm.

For those of you tempted by the cool cover to plunge in and pick up this one without reading the first book in the series, my advice would be don’t. Though Tchaikovsky provides a ‘Story So Far’ – a development that I thoroughly approve of – the first book is a tour de force and you’ll miss far too much of the wonderful richness of this amazing world. A world where people are defined by their clans and what they shape-shift into when they reach puberty. A world riven by constant wars and fights between the clans. A pre-agrarian society, where the secret of smelting iron belongs to the Wolf and the rest of the clans make do with bronze weapons.

While The Tiger and the Wolf mostly features the adventures of Maniye, the outcast child of the Wolf, this sequel branches off and we have another main protagonist, the Champion of the Bear, Lord Thunder. He has been dragged unwillingly right into the middle of the ferment caused when catastrophe overtakes the Seal people. A rather grumpy character possessing great strength and a short temper, he has no desire to become any kind of leader. I like the humour that comes from his struggles to deal with the political in-fighting, while he yearns to retreat once more into solitude – though that humour is tempered by the undertow of threat that runs through the book.

In common with much epic fantasy, there is Something Nasty and Worldchanging the prophesies are all saying is just around the corner. And indeed, Tchaikovsky’s talent for writing gripping action scenes and battles comes in handy as the book builds up to a page-turning climax that meant I read far into the wee small hours to discover how it all turns out. Anyone who has read Tchaikovsky’s Spiderlight and Children of Time will know he’s the master of unintended consequences, and while the main storyline is satisfactorily concluded in this action-packed book, there are some intriguing plotlines left dangling for the next in this series. Classic epic fantasy isn’t my favourite sub-genre, but Echoes of the Fall has a place in my heart – I dreamt of it when I finally fell asleep. So it comes very highly recommended.

While I obtained the arc of The Bear and the Serpent from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
10/10

Teaser Tuesday – 7th February, 2016

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This is my choice of the day:
The Bear and the Serpent by Adrian Tchaikovksy
31% It had not Stepped, but it flew, wings shimmering from its back. It cursed Yellow Claw and cursed all of them with nonsense sounds as it hovered up near the cave’s ceiling, before the horrified eyes of the priests. The gaping emptiness within it dragged at their souls, jealous for what it could not have.
Loud Thunder did not sleep that night, and he reckoned the rest wouldn’t either.

BLURB: Maniye, child of Wolf and Tiger, has a new soul and a new shape. But as Champion of the Crown of the World, does she represent an opportunity for the North – or a threat? Travelling as a bodyguard to the Southern prince, with her warband of outcasts, she hopes to finally discover her true place in the world, though she is quickly pitchforked in the middle of a crisis that puts her at the eye of a political storm.

Yet all the while, an enemy from the most ancient of times prepares for conquest, and could destroy everything in their path…

This is the sequel to Tchaikovsky’s impressive The Tiger and the Wolf , released last year. If you like epic fantasy and also enjoy shape-shifting protagonists, then  track down the first book in this excellent series. This sequel is shaping up to be every bit as enjoyable and full of incident as it takes our cast of characters onward through this adventure. I shall be reviewing this one in due course.

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* The Tiger and the Wolf – Echoes of the Fall: Book 1 by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I have met Adrian at a number of Fantasycons and as well as being a gifted and intelligent writer, he is also a really nice man. He is also on something of a roll – 2015 saw the publication of his acclaimed magic and musket standalone book, Guns of the Dawn, which is right at the top of this year’s TBR list, as well as his awesome science fiction trendsetter Children of Time – see my review here.

I was also privileged to hear Adrian read an extract of The Tiger and the Wolf at last year’s Fantasycon and loved it. Would the book fulfil its promise?

In the bleak northern crown of the world, war is coming. Maniye’s father is the Wolf clan’s chieftain, but she’s an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan’s animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She can’t disown half her soul, so escapes – with the killer, Broken Axe, in pursuit.

This epic fantasy is set in a wonderful world, where humans are shapeshifters according to the tribe they’ve been born into. But Maniye’s father had captured and raped her Tiger Queen mother and after Maniye was born, had her murdered by Broken Axe. Maniye has spent her childhood shunned by the other children in the Wolf clan, who sense the Tiger within her. While she has been constantly harried and beaten by the clan Elders for her difference.

When matters finally come to head as Maniye’s father puts in place the next part of his long-term plan, using his half-cast daughter as a pawn in bringing the remnants of the Tiger clan under the rule of the Wolves, she flees. And this action-packed coming-of-age adventure is all about what befalls Maniye as she desperately tries to work out her own destiny within the Crown-of-the-World – the sprawling northern wilderness intersected by a network of rivers, marshlands and forests, all divided within the various clan tribes.

As with his Shadow of the Apt fantasy, Tchaikovsky has woven a richly textured world, brimming with difference and complexity. I love Maniye’s dogged determination and the entirely plausible way in which her desperate rebellion against her father’s wishes acts as a catalyst. As she flees, she sets in motion a chain of events that undermines the current political structure, while she also encounters a rich cast of characters that also bounce off the page with their vividness. My personal favourites are the old Serpent priest, Hesprec and the grumpy slave, Venater, who is an unwilling visitor to this cold northern land as he accompanies his master on a vital mission from the south.

Another outstanding character is Broken Axe, the cold-blooded killing hand of Maniye’s ambitious father. It always raises the stakes when an antagonist is fully realised as a driven, clever character with his own agenda, other than to be ‘evil’. For no one is the baddie within his own lifestory, which is a concept Tchaikovsky thoroughly understands. I also love his trick of producing unintended consequences – it’s the narrative engine of his generational ship adventure, Children of Time – and while there are other major themes interweaving throughout this epic fantasy, Maniye’s story is a classic example of a plan gone awry. As for the climax – it’s a doozy. I stayed in bed far longer than I planned to find out what happened.

You may have gathered that I love this story and you’d be right. It soaked into my imagination such that I dreamt of the world and Maniye’s adventures, which doesn’t happen all that often. If your taste runs to well constructed, character-led epic fantasy, then track this one down. It’s worth it. My advance copy of the book came from Netgalley in return for an honest review.
10/10