London Eye

My first introduction to Tim Lebbon was in the SWORDS & DARK MAGIC anthology a while back. In a collection of stories full of absolute WIN, Tim Lebbon's "The Deification of Dal Bamore" was one of the best. After that I read ECHO CITY and was similarly impressed. Lebbon's ability to write Horror the way Miéville writes Weird Fiction is astounding.

And then I heard Lebbon was going to write a YA novel, and it would be published through Pyr SF&F. Holy anticipation, Batman!

LONDON EYE, Lebbon's YA novel, is the first in a series that follows a group of teens as they enter London in search of their families, and the truth about what really is happening in the city. You see, London isn't what it used to be. A terrorist attack poisons the city, killing a majority of the people there (just imagine the numbers) as the city is quarantined.

The setting is the the first thing that jumps out. I love the idea. I love that London has been quarantined, and the mystery surrounding it. The characters in the novel all wonder what really goes on in that poisoned city, and it sets up the mystery and suspense well.

This being a YA novel, the characters are the most important part of the novel. It is my opinion that all great YA novels have one thing in common: strong, likable characters. In the few works of Lebbon's that I have read, it usually took me a bit to warm up to the characters. LONDON EYE is no exception. For whatever reason I just couldn't make myself care too much about the teenagers. Jack, the main character, just didn't draw me in. Neither did his kid sister, or his girlfriend, Lucy Anne (who becomes ridiculously annoying in the last part of the novel). Two other friends round out the group, but I never really felt they mattered much.

Can you see why this is an issue to me? All of the characters are just...there. They are stuck reacting to every situation, and really never make any actual decisions on their own until the end of the book--literally, the very end. They begin making active decisions, and the book just ends. In a book that is so short, hardly anything happens. The teens go into the city, get attacked, meet a few of London's survivors, then the book ends. I wasn't left thinking about this book once I had finished it. I turned the last page, closed the book, and moved on to the next one. For me, this all comes down to the characters not holding my interest.

All this said, there is a lot to like in LONDON EYE. I've already mentioned the setting. Did I mention the paranormal elements? Yeah. See, this poison (or whatever it actually is) that caused untold numbers of people to to die also evolves a small number of humans. They develop powers that allow them to heal, seek out bloodlines, employ telekinesis, use voices as weapons, control animals...you name it, someone can do it. To go along with this is a group of people--Choppers--that hunt out these evolved survivors to capture and experiment on them. It's all very grim and horrific.

This leads me to my next criticism. I can't help but feel like Lebbon was holding back. He does the weird and horrible better than most authors. It is one of his greatest strengths as an author. In LONDON EYE it feels like he is just about to do something awesome...then remembers he is writing YA. The perception while reading is that Lebbon is worried about his ideas being too much for the readers. The novel is already for the upper end of YA--what the cool kids call New Adult--but it ends up in a sort of limbo. I do think that as Lebbon writes some more YA, he'll find his stride. I mean, he's freaking Tim Lebbon.

LONDON EYE, when you really look at the full body of work, feels like the first half of a novel. Right when things started to get interesting, the book ended. I was left wondering if my ARC was missing 150 pages. The setup is good, but by the time a sequel comes out, I worry that any small measure of interest I had in the characters will be lost. The setting and paranormal elements were enough to carry the story for me, but I feel like we are missing out on a huge amount of potential so far.

Will I read the sequel? Probably. I do want to see what happens next. I want to see Lebbon really grab this new type of novel (for him) by the horns. I trust Lebbon, so I'll give this series another chance. I just wish the "sequel" had been the second half of this novel so there was the tiniest bit of resolution.

Recommended Age: 15+.
Language: Fairly strong for a YA novel, but not frequent.
Violence: In some scenes, Lebbon goes absolutely crazy. He lets loose. Then in others he totally holds back. Inconsistently, insanely violent.
Sex: These are older teens in a dystopian future. They talk about sex, and have sex. Nothing detailed, but it's there.

Want to give this a shot? Here's the link:

LONDON EYE

In the Lion's Mouth

I'm just not getting it. Science Fiction. I hate the fact that I sometimes sound like a broken record, but there's just so little SF out there that I've read to prove me wrong that I just can't help but feel jaded. The up-side is that as long as it's well-written, I'm not going to rip into too much, because if there's one thing that is consistent and good about these books, it's the prose.

IN THE LION'S MOUTH by Michael Flynn is the third installment in his most recent space opera series featuring the inimitable Donovan Buigh.  I wasn't very keen on the second, UP JIM RIVER, but I decided that to be fair, I had better read the first, THE JANUARY DANCER, before diving into this one.  Unfortunately, I needn't have bothered, for I just found more of the same:  a beautifully-written story with a swiss cheese of a plot that ended with me asking, "What was the point of that?"

The story this time around is framed by an agent of the Shadow, Ravn Olafsdotter, and is relayed to Donovan's daughter, Mearana, and his sometime lover, the Hound Bridget Ban, by Ravn because Donovan has, for reasons known to Ravn, gone missing.  Mearana and Bridget are eager to find Donovan, and so they abide the Shadow's presence in their home, instead of instantly killing her as an enemy, and settle down to listen to Ravn's words.

Ravn spins a tale that is varied and complicated.  Told from the point of view of Donovan, instead of through Ravn's eyes (don't ask me how this works--Donovan already has so many people in his head though that it didn't bother me too much that Ravn was, technically, now another one).  Donovan has chosen to return to Commonwealth space, and finds a civil war brewing, in which he becomes somewhat involved.

Similar to JANUARY DANCER, none of the details of the story seem to matter, as the tale jumps from one setting to the next with little to no connection other than through the vague intricacies of the Shadows and Hounds, the two major powers, of known space.  In the end, it is not the story that matters, but the unknown motives of Ravn in telling the story in the first place.  In this way, IN THE LION'S MOUTH was very much like the other two books in the series.  This similar structure was what had led me to the same final question each time:

What was the point of that?

In this case, it seems to be to elicit a particular response from a person of interest.

And that's all.

Sorry, but I just can't get behind that.  Despite the awesome writing, despite the cool history and universe that Mr. Flynn has developed here, despite the way in which--for very small periods of time--he grabs my interest in full by the characters or the world or the events of the story (before, in my opinion, quickly throwing it all down the drain), I have come to the conclusion that this is all nothing more than what I've come to expect, in general, from Science Fiction.  If you, like me, would rather enjoy both the beginning, middle, and end of a story, would rather read about awesome characters and powerful stories, why don't you try some of the Science Fiction authors we love instead.  After this read, I'm definitely going to be heading back that direction.

Recommended Age: 16+, though you should probably recommend something they'll enjoy better
Language: Very little
Violence: Gets pretty gory in the various deaths described
Sex: A handful of references.

Interested in this series?  Find it here:

THE JANUARY DANCER

UP JIM RIVER

IN THE LION'S MOUTH

The Isis Collar

Celia's life hasn't been easy since she was turned into an abomination in BLOOD SONG--not quite human, but not quite vampire, either. At the same time her siren abilities manifested, giving her supernatural skills she only wished she had in a profession (bodyguard) that needs all the advantages she can get.

Be careful what you wish for.

THE ISIS COLLAR starts out with a bomb at an elementary school. Someone really despicable wants to cause a pandemic with a magical necrosis that essentially turns people into zombies. Despite a tip-off, Celia couldn't stop the bomb and is infected, but her vampire side is having trouble beating the infection. It becomes a race against time to find the source of the bomb and an antidote--for herself and for those even less resistant to the disease.

Like before, Celia is a great protagonist with the right amount of attitude and kick-butt skills, who's still a girlie at heart. I enjoyed Celia's romantic entanglements that she can't seem to resolve through no fault of her own. She attracts these men not because she's a fair maid in danger, but because she's a good person trying to do the right thing, who takes her friendships seriously, and is the kind of woman you want fighting in your corner. However, by this point in the series the cast is a little unwieldy. There are new characters with ties to people Celia knows, there are several people from previous books, and even more with back story--all of this would make new readers feel lost.

For some reason Tor never sent DEMON SONG (boo! And I wanted to read it!), although they sent the first two in the series, BLOOD SONG and SIREN SONG . Either way THE ISIS COLLAR is a bit of a letdown after the clean writing of books 1 and 2. We're caught in subplots carried over from previous books that interfere with the pacing. There are also some seemingly random events that matter later in the story, but aren't explainable and still feel random. Heck, we don't even know what the Isis Collar is until the last quarter of the book and it's the title! Adams tries to tie everything together, but the novel still felt like a random sequence of events, making the pacing a little off, even if there was consistent forward movement.

It's less the plot than it's the characters and the setting that will keep readers hooked. It's a world of vampires, sirens, mages, witches, demons, and everything in between. It's a world that's familiar to us and yet very, very different. Adams adds fun details to this world, such as the Isaac's store, where Celia gets her gear altered to hide her guns, but to also purchase magic charms, a special brand of spray holy water, and anything else a girl would need to defend herself from the supernatural.

If you liked the previous books, ISIS is more of the same: same Celia and friends, same pacing and exciting storyline. If you haven't read any, start with BLOOD SONG. As for the series, despite its flaws, its interesting characters and engaging setting is what will keep me reading in the future.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: A handful of harsher language, but still average for Urban Fantasy
Violence: Plenty of danger from bombs, demons, witches--with the zombie descriptions being the grossest part of the book
Sex: Innuendo and references without detail

The books in The Blood Singer Series:
BLOOD SONG
SIREN SONG
DEMON SONG
THE ISIS COLLAR

The Crimson Pact, Vol. 3

I have an awesome boss.  Well, all of us are pretty cool here at EBR, but Mr. Steve is a class act.  He's smart, he's debonaire, he's...what's that? Why all the sycophantic flattery?  It doesn't even sound like I'm talking to you? Dang. Well, here's the thing.  You might have noticed the title of this book review already, and maybe even more than that you might remember the fact that Mr. Steve was going to have another short story in this anthology. Yeah. Well, his story rocked, but...um...wow, I better just get into it.

THE CRIMSON PACT, VOL. 3, edited by Paul Genesse, is the third anthology of short stories that are all based off of the ideas developed by the Crimson Pact mythos introduced in his own story from the first anthology.  Generally speaking, a horde of demons has broken through some kind of inter-dimensional portal and been scattered across the veritable multi-verse and a brotherhood of knights and volunteers, the Crimson Pact, pursues them out into the eternities through a plethora of fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk, horror, urban fantasy, and just about any other story genre that is possible (well, I don't know if I've seen a romance yet...).  In general, it's been a fairly fun ride so far, with a bit of everything thrown into the mix.

I had several favorites this time around.

"That Which We Fear" by Larry Correia and Steve Diamond: More Diego Santos and Lazarus Tombs. Nothing could have made me happier than to see this one as the first in the group. We get some great progression of the storyline surrounding not only Tombs and his missing kid but on Santos and his deadline on life as well. I loved this one. If anything, it was too short and might have felt a bit rushed, but it was just packed with goodness. This series totally deserves to be followed.

"The Ronin's Mark" by Donald Darling: This one totally surprised me and made me really excited to get into the anthology. The kicker? A connection to another story in the anthology, which is exactly what I asked for in my review of Volume 2. Ha! The fairly unsympathetic main character, whom I don't believe is ever named, is the demon-equivalent of a contract killer that fights with the inner struggle of becoming complacent in the human world while wading through combat and contracted operations that are just fun to read. The ending, I thought, was especially good.

"Monsters on the Trail" by Patrick Tomlinson: This is the third entry in Tomlinson's continuing story and was a definite step up from Volume 2. Izzy and her pet demon, Melicarius, play into the main plot a bit more this time, and help her de facto Aunt and boyfriend Jaws (both cops) find the killer of a priest, who turns out to be...you guessed it. A demon. Really enjoyable.

"A Contract Between Thieves" by Stephanie Lorée: This was easily my second favorite of the anthology. Feni agrees to help Raf, a long-time acquaintance, complete a contract after a game of cards. The result is a romp through an alchemist's laboratory that neither of them will forget and one of them may not survive. Though it started a bit slow, there was a great sense of character and place and adventure in this one that was missing from so many of the other stories in the anthology. This story, placed near the end of the anthology, totally saved the day for me. Stephanie: You rock. I want more.

On the whole, I was less impressed with this volume than prior entries for two reasons. The first is that it's so much shorter than the others.  This happened, from what I understand, because the volume was getting too big from the sheer number of stories that had to be contained within it, and instead of making the thing just massive, Genesse decided to split volume three into two volumes.  He pulled a Martin, so to speak--keeping some stories (characters) in this volume and saving other stories (characters) for the next volume. The second reason was the shift of the stories toward, in my opinion, the unfortunate. There's always going to be a split in the stories that readers like in anthologies. Just the way it is. I just wish there had been more fun, more substance, and more interconnectivity. But I am being kind of picky.

I am totally looking forward to the fourth anthology, if for no other reasons than that I might be getting another Santos/Tombs story from the story-titans Correia and Diamond, and I am also expecting another Evil Library story from Sarah Kanning (woo-hoo!).

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Not a lot, but pretty much the entire gamut
Violence: A decent variety of bloody and
Sex: A few references, but not too much detail

Want em? Get em:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3

All Men of Genius

The irony of the title of ALL MEN OF GENIUS by newcomer Lev A.C. Rosen is that the main character is 17-year-old Violet. While not exactly a tomboy, she's a scientist at heart and isn't afraid of the grime, oil, and dirt involved in her love of making machines. Unfortunately for her, the exclusive London-based science university, Illyria, doesn't accept women. Violet, however, is reckless enough to concoct a scheme that allows her to attend the university--posing as her twin brother Ashton.

ALL MEN OF GENIUS is Rosen's steampunk re-telling combination of Wilde's "The Importance of Being Ernest" and Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." It's more a comedy of manners than anything resembling the conspiracy mystery he prologues the book with. While fun, creative, and entertaining, I can sum up GENIUS with two words: heavy handed.

The ensemble cast revolves around our heroine, Violet. Violet and her brother are the children of a scientist who travels to America for a year, leaving them to their own devices. She enlists the help of her brother and friend Jack to see the scheme through. We meet classmates along the way, romantic interest Duke Ernest Illyria who is the headmaster, various professors, and other tacked on characters who don't seem to have much influence to the story at large. They are often shallow caricatures, with heavy-handed characterization that sometimes bordered on the silly--on purpose, I'm guessing, considering the comedy of manners angle. To me they just seemed odd. Others may find them more charming.

The majority of the story takes place in London and at the school Illyria itself. In its labyrinthine dungeons, the labs, the common areas, the gardens, and all that. I enjoyed London through the seasons, and Rosen paces the passage of time well. But I still had a hard time picturing Illarya itself anything other than a smaller Hogwarts.

The characters all broadcast early in the book their well-laid plans...and then almost everything happens the way they planned. This heavy-handed foreshadowing makes the resolution not very fun. Sure Violet, as the female lead, has her worries. What if people find out what she is before she can finish the year? What are the strange automatons in the basement? Will people still like her as a woman and not a man? There simply wasn't enough at stake and by the end I was skimming pages just to finish the book, since I already knew how everything works out.

The narrator attempts an old-fashioned voice, but it feels self conscious and awkward, with its tell-not-show info-dumps to quickly establish setting and characters. The prose has its quirky moments and is often charming, but stumbles over itself, thereby slowing the flow of the story. While the omniscient PoV focuses on Violet, it switches between characters in a scene and even sometimes within a paragraph. Rosen does get heavy-handed dealing with themes of one's sexual identity and gender expectations. And I can't help making a petty complaint noting that the frequent use of rather/quite/terribly/etc doesn't automatically make prose genteel.

Much of the science is creative and interesting, but sometimes it has issues. Jack, while clearly talented in his particular field, only takes ten minutes to graft snake skin onto a rat. Violet creates an invention that only requires two turns of a key to provide enough torque to run a large device for three days. Is Rosen stretching the laws of physics here a bit? Sometimes it all just seems too easy.

If you aren't the nitpicky type these problems won't affect your enjoyment of a creative story and its sweet yet mixed-up romances. Overall ALL MEN OF GENIUS is an entertaining bit of work, and I probably look too closely at it with a critical eye. But Rosen tries too hard, and it shows.

Recommended Age: 16+, despite the YA looking cover this isn't for younger audiences
Language: Crude language and a fair about of the harsher stuff, including one very profane rabbit
Violence: One violent scene at the end involving death, but little blood and no gore
Sex: Gay teen romancing and several references to 'inverts'; vague references to rape; frequent references to sex

Think you'd like to give it a shot?  Here's your link:

ALL MEN OF GENIUS