Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I won’t spoil anything here, and unless you’ve been under a rock, you know who Harry Potter is. This is the final book in the series, and I was not disappointed. I recommend the Harry Potter series to any serious Fantasy reader–the novels are well written, and not “kid-like”. In fact, the series is, IMHO, the functional equivalent of any other “coming of age” story, like Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Brooks’ Sword of Shannara, etc.
Anyway–great book, hope you enjoy it as well.
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Woken Furies
I’ve read the previous 2 Takeshi Kovacs novels, and loved them both (Broken Angels, and Altered Carbon). The basic premise is that the story takes place in the “far future”, and humanity has figured out how to “download” ones consciousness onto a “cortical stack”. Virtual Immortality. When you die, they take your cortical stack and put it in a new “sleeve”. Voila–new body, new life. It gets better than that, of course. You can be put in any sleeve you want, and the sleeves are technologically enhanced–military sleeves have enhanced endurance, increased adrenalin production, etc.
Humans have spread through the universe–and the enabler for that was discovering Martian technology. Millions of years ago, Martians developed an interstellar infrastructure, then mysteriously disappear–all we have are archeological traces of them, and their technology. It is their path we follow out of the solar system, into the stars.
Takeshi Kovacs is an ex “Envoy”, which is basically the combination of US Marines, MI5, CIA, and every other complete badass Stephen Segal character you can think of. They’re smarter than average humans, they have perfect memories, etc. He is basically a mercenary for hire. In the first book, Altered Carbon, he returns to earth, hired out by a family, to solve a murder. In the 2nd book, he is contracted by a military organization.
In Woken Furies, Takeshi Kovacs is operating independently. It takes place “sometime” after the 2nd novel–several years, based on events that have occurred. He’s living on his home world, “Harlan’s World”, eking out a living as a pseudo-criminal, while taking vengeance on the local religious cult (think Islam meets 17th century Puritanism, without all the niceties of either religion). He stumbles upon a greater event however, when a woman he meets in a bar turns out to be more than she seems–way more than she seems.
If you like “film noir” or “cyberpunk”, or just a well written novel, then the Takeshi Kovacs series is for you. I highly recommend it, he’s one of my favorite authors, currently–as least in this series. He has a few other books out–I own one, and have not read it yet (Market Forces).
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Dhampir
I’ve been looking at these books forever, but never purchased them. For some reason they never triggered a desire to purchase them, despite my love of “urban fantasy” (i.e. vampires/werewolves). Jeanine purchased the 4th book in the series, “Traitor to the Blood”, for my birthday–so I had to get the first 3 books. In traditional fashion, I attempted to read the 4th book first. Normally, this strategy works out well for me. This time, however, I was unable to really get into it, without the missing background.
So, B&N online was able to supply me with the missing books–Dhampir is the first in the series (followed by Thief of Lives, and Sister of the Dead).
All in all, good stuff. I’m still reading the series, so that tells you something. And I’m reading it fairly quickly, which is also significant–I tend to read stuff I don’t like at a glacial pace.
Dhampir revolves around 3 main characters–Magiere, Leesil, and Chap. Magiere is a female “dhampir”, which means she’s half undead. Huh? I know, weird. Her father was a newly turned vampire, and her mother was human. In this world, vampires, right after they become vampires, can still conceive. Leesil is half-elf, which is incredibly rare in this world. Chap is a fay-hound. You learn more about him in the 2nd book–in the first, he’s mostly just a very smart dog that can smell undead.
The books are very much “episodic” in their reading style. What I mean by that is they are very similar to watching an episodic TV show like Grey’s Anatomy. Each chapter has plot movement, but also a lot of character movement/revelation. The story is as much about the characters, their emotions, and their interaction with each other, as it is about their pursuit of vampires. In some ways, the storyline between the characters is the main driver, and not the “hunt of undead”.
In Dhampir, Magiere and Leesil start the story running con games on small villages–they pretend to be undead hunters, purging the villages of unwanted vampires, etc. However, they are just conning the villagers. As the story progresses, they accidentally stumble across REAL vampires–and discover they’re adept at killing them.
Unlike many novels, the Hendees try very hard to make the villains “friendly”, or at least standing characters in their own right. They want you to understand the motivation of the villains, which goes beyond the standard “I want more power” option that many authors tend to pursue.
While the handling of characters is intriguing, and worthwhile, it does make the books a bit dense sometime. It certainly leads to “skim reading”, where I tend to skip a lot of the non-quoted paragraphs, or only lightly skim them, while focusing mainly on the dialogue between characters.
All in all, I’d recommend these books. If you like character stories, or if you like your heroes to be very “Buffy-like”, this is for you.
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I just finished reading Holly Lisle’s new book, “Talyn: A novel of Korre“.
I’ve loved all of Holly Lisle’s previous work, but struggled to finish this book. The basic premise is of an island, where 2 nations have been warring for years. Hundreds of years, in fact. Their philosophies, religions, military structure, government, etc., are all quite different. They simply can’t find a way to end the war and live in peace.
That is, until the Feegash (Fee-ay-gash) come along. The Feegash are a small nation on the neighboring continent, and specialize in negotiation. Their mercenary army is said to be the best in the world.
The Feegash manage to quickly negotiate a peace, where no peace could be found previously. This is where the story begins. The book tells a tale of 3 people: Talyn, the heroine, Gair, the partner, and Skirmig, the evil villain.
Talyn is Tonk, and falls in love with Skirmig, the evil mastermind of the story. Gair is an Eastil soldier (Tonk and Eastil are the 2 warring nations), and due to happenstance, manages to fall into Talyn’s good graces. After rescuing him from prison, she takes care of him until he is fully healed from his ordeals. Meanwhile, Skirmig works his evil ways.
Anyway, I won’t spoil the story for you, you get the idea. The book dragged at times, and by the end, I just wanted to finish it. It was a good story, but fairly predictable. I think I’d give it 3 stars out of 5. I’d definitely recommend other books by Holly Lisle, however.
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I created this blog to capture my thoughts about science fiction, fantasy, and urban fantasy novels that I’m reading. I wanted a way to share my thoughts about books with others, including my friends, and any strangers who happen along.
Enjoy! Please feel free to add your comments to any review. If you wish to start reviewing, let me know. I might be able to figure out how to get you added as a reviewer 
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