I learned yet again, that I’m living in an ivory tower. Actually, there is only a very limited number of places I usually go. My work place, quite intelligent and grown-up people in the majority. My home, my almost sane family. Our neighbourhood, one of the better in Krefeld. An idyllic world. But from time to time I have to leave that capsule of righteousness and hilarious problems. Last Saturday such a time had come.

Pleasant Anticipation

Amazon notified me just a few days earlier that they shipped One Piece #66. This one was finally supposed to finish the Fishmen Island Arc. I made a habit out of collecting the books until they conclude an arc, and than read them altogether. Otherwise, those cliffhangers drove me crazy and I couldn’t wait two to three month until the next one came out. I was forced to spoil for what happens next. That has always taken a little bit the fun out of it.

I was happy. Now I could finally consume the other four books laying on my bedside table.

The Message of Doom

Arriving at home on Friday afternoon, I found one of the most feared things in our idyllic-world capsule: a message from the mailman. Actually Amazon ships their books with DHL and they are not allowed or unable or whatever to use a mail box. We have an opening in our front door for letters and stuff. This tiny parcel could easily fit, and no one except the people living in the house (only us) could pick the parcel up. So where is the point in denying to use it? Despite this, their are usually neighbours accepting our parcels. But sometimes you have simply bad luck.

I mentally prepared to visit the central post office. That literally took me down for the rest of the day. The last time I was there, not so long ago, I spent two hours in the line for a similar small parcel. It always happens on Fridays, and you cannot pick them up before twelve o’clock the next day. The opening hours on Saturdays leave only one hour, to do so. And since DHL created those dreaded Pack Stations, there is only the main post office left. I was cursing them. They never really made the leap from a governmental service to a customer friendly company.

The Odyssey Begins

I took my Kindle with me and hoped to read another good chunk of The Emperor’s Edge, which I can highly recommend to any fantasy book fan. When I entered the hall the line actually wasn’t that long, only once through the 60 meters wide hall. I estimated around an hour of waiting. Luckily they don’t kick you out at one o’clock, they merely don’t let new customers in and handle the line till the end.

Reading was hard from the beginning, since two girls were behind me that chatted constantly as if they haven’t seen each other for years.

After ten minutes – the line moved around 5 meters – I noticed a young woman (mid 20′s, I would guess) who paced back and forth between a counter and the form fill out area (sounds like chill out area, but is quite the opposite) ignoring any line and almost jumped over the barrier that separated the counter area from the waiting line area. She wore a tracksuit in light blue. You know one of those, hip-hop style thingies. I’m not aware of the correct technical term.

The next thirty minutes I was able to read. The chatter behind me was so constant I could easily blend it out and was sucked into the story.

About Nazis and Bulgarians

But then it was getting real loud. The post officer was shouting at the tracksuit woman. At first I couldn’t understand what they were saying. But as the loudness grew I caught a few words: “… said, not going to pay … can not read … need ID …”. I dismissed it and tried to get back to the story. I couldn’t. They were getting louder and louder, and as I was getting closer and closer I was able to understand clearer what they were talking about.

The post officer, was denying to pay out 2.000€. She was a Bulgarian citizen and had her Bulgarian ID with her. The post officer claimed not being able to read her ID and without an ID he wouldn’t give her the money. Apparently she had something, that normally, provided she had a readable ID, would legitimate her to receive the money. That part was unclear to me, because I didn’t witness from the beginning. She argued that she desperately needed the money now. The post officer said that he understands, but can do nothing without a valid ID. As it turns out, he was already the manager in charge. Nevertheless he involved a second officer to witness the not readability of the ID. But eh, what should he do, question his boss? That wouldn’t happen. After some more minutes back and forth and her pointing fiercely at the part of her ID where she claimed all information was available in latin letters, she accused him of being a Nazi. She didn’t use the word, but she screamed under tears: “YOU ONLY TREAT ME THIS WAY, BECAUSE I’M BULGARIAN … THAT NEVER HAPPENED TO ME, BEFORE”. He felt offended and dismissed her. By then, it was my turn, and I was called to the counter right besides both of them. They exchanged a few more not so nice, but still somewhat professional, words. Then she walked off, under heavy tears. The whole hall had witnessed the spectacle.

What Did Just Happen?

I tried to tell the facts as emotionless as possible, so far. Now my interpretation: the post office still employs the laziest, stupidest and most ignorant people you can find on earth. There are exceptions of course. But not him. He denies to decipher an ID that’s different from what he normally sees. She had a somewhat questionable outfit at least in the eyes of an old stubborn post officer having only a few years before retirement. Her German was broken, but she seemed to understand everything. He feared being duped and made a decision early on, which he couldn’t withdraw. Pride … you know. Since the whole hall has witnessed.

As I was waiting for my parcel to be found in some dungeon, there was a call from the door. “She is back, and brought her boy friend. What shall I do?” The managing post officer was serving a different customer by now, continously muttering about being accused of being a Nazi and that he is unable to read cyrillic and that’s always the same with those Greeks. He shouted back: “Let them in”. Shortly after, I received my parcel and found myself in front of closed doors. Another post officer had kept the doors locked. The woman and her boyfriend sill outside. He looked almost as expected: similar age as her, a tracksuit, barrel chested, thick necked, short hair, grim face. If he would have grown bigger than 1.7 meters, I would have been a little scared by now.

Trying to Escape

The post officer guarding the door urged me to wait. She called out again for the manager. He said again to let them in, but to wait a second to finish his current customer. While I was waiting to get released, a woman nearby (almost at the end of the line), said to herself: “Ah. That’s so sad.” The door guard instantly snapped at her: “What is sad?”. The woman, apparently feeling attacked, answered after a hesitating moment in a low somewhat trembling voice: “Everything. Everything in this country.”

As it took more much more than a second to finish his customer, and I couldn’t bear to stare at the couple outside of the glass door any longer, I opened the parcel and found out, that the Fishmen Island Arc is indeed going to end in this book. The door guard finally let me out and the tracksuit couple in. I was lucky to miss the coming moments at the dreaded post office.

Conclusion

Afterwards I was blaming myself. Maybe I could have helped her in the first place. But thinking again I dismissed that thought. Other encounters with this stubborn post officers have proved me, that you can’t teach them anything. And well, I don’t look that trustworthy either. He would have accused me to conspirate with her, be it just silently.

I confess I’m also a coward and have learned quite early to keep myself out of trouble. But that was not the biggest hindrens, it was more the fact, that I felt like a spectator, not really there, disconnected, unable to interact. Like glimpsing through binoculars from my ivory tower down onto the real world. Have you ever experienced a similar feeling of disconnectedness? Should I try to you keep myself more “grounded”? What’s the point, why do I blog about this encounter?

I think it’s unlikely that I would have paid out money for The Emperor’s Edge as an e-book. If I’d had the chance to flip through the book in a store, I’d have taken a chance on an unknown author – but the point about the new world of internet shopping is that it is very difficult to do that. But now I’ve read it, am I going to buy the sequel? The answer is, I already have. And what is more, I paid the higher price to order both the book I’ve read and the next two in POD (print on demand) paperback. I want to lend them to people who I know would enjoy them.

Buroker has made a highly intelligent marketing move in making her first book free. Of course, she can also write, which always helps. If she couldn’t, no matter how many free downloads, she would simply never translate those into sales.

Over on The Passive Voice someone commenting on a post suggested a good move for the big book chains would be to install POD machines in some of their flagship stores. I think it’s a genius idea. The real value of the ebook revolution is the availability of absolutely anything you could want – everything, as I said previously, getting the chance to find its audience. POD in store would give the people like me – and there are many of us – the opportunity to have the same range of choice in hard copy that we have over the ether. The only question is whether traditional models of book selling will catch up to this revolution before it pins them to the wall and shoots.

Amaranthe is our heroine as she is pretty cool, I have no real problems with her, she has a nice rounded character and she is a thinker, she tries to talk to people first before she fights. You can see there is some kind of spark between her and the deadly asassian Sicarius when they keep coming into each other’s company. It’s not overly noticeable and could just be seen as a mutual agreement to work with each other for a time. However Amaranthe has a good backstory that doesn’t have her acting ‘woe is me’. She’s strong in her own way, although Sicarius does have to help save her it never comes across that she is completely out of her depth… If that makes any sense and there are moments when she say’s something that prevents any bloodshed.

Sicarius is the anti-hero of the book, he remains a complete mystery you know very little about him and yet, to the reader, that makes him rather appealing the lack of a background story just makes us wonder what his story is and why he does what he does. Most notably why he began to kill the Enforcers a few years ago. Part of his mystery comes to light at the end of the book, however it’s just a glimpse of it nothing more so it still leaves us guessing.

The Emperor himself is a really nice character too, although he does appear to be a bit of an idiot we learn why and then he really comes into his own. Although he is more of a background character than anything else it was still rather good to see how he was interacting with those in his court.

The other side characters who basically make up the team that Amaranthe created are also interesting… to an extent, Books and Maldynado are given plenty of character depth to them, although Maldynado still retains his own air of mystery it’s not anywhere near the depth of Sucarius.
Akstyr however is a character that I think needs a bit more love, his character is rather bland and in the book he acts mainly like a sulky teenage boy than anything else, while he does have his valuable moments scattered around the book, on the whole he is more of a character that you kinda wish there was more too, he just lacked anything to make him truly pop and at times I found myself forgetting about him, particularly at the end of the book where Amaranthe managed to recruit another member of the team, who was part of the enemies team and also couldn’t speak!

Apart from Akstyr the plot who brilliant and a very good read, I would wonder about reading the rest of the series though because from the blurbs I’ve read it all sounds like the same plot, apart from of course more character development per book.
If you aren’t a steampunk fan, I wouldn’t let that put you off this book, although it does have certain elements of the steampunk genre it’s by no means the centre of the book which mainly focuses on the plot and the interactions of all the characters. Everything in this book is well done, well written – apart from minor mistakes here and there but nothing obvious.
Definitely get it on Kindle if you can, right now it is free and it’s well worth looking into!

If you’re curious about fantasy indies and ebooks, these are good ones to start with. They’re available in all major ebook formats, and can be purchased by readers all over the world. No matter where you are, you can be reading them in two minutes. If you’re looking to get your high fantasy fix, you’re in luck!

1. The Emperor’s Edge by Lindsay Buroker

Sub-genre: High Fantasy/Epic Fantasy, Steampunk (the Rule of Cool kind)

Ebook Price: $0.99 USD at Smashwords and Amazon

Why should you read it?: The Emperor’s Edge follows an unlikely crew of a female enforcer, an all-too-serious assassin, a flirty male escort, a magician gangster punk, and a drunkard librarian as they try to stop nefarious plots to kill the emperor. The focus isn’t on epic battle standoffs, instead, they either use odd props to fight battles (dirty fighting!) or find unique ways to disrupt the enemy’s plans (and maybe even the local economy). The world is unique mash of medieval and Victorian era tropes. It’s refreshing, lighthearted, and very funny. Read the full review here.

***

2. Lovers and Beloveds by MeiLin Miranda

Sub-genre: High Fantasy, Erotic Fantasy

Ebook Price: $4.95 USD at Smashwords and Amazon

Why should you read it?: I have never read a book that was so sensual and yet so political at the same time. Prince Temmin becomes of age and finds himself in the intrigued-filled royal court, where he learns from various teachers (through both intellectual and sensual lessons) about the relationships between power, sex, and privilege. Tremont is a hierarchical and patriarchal society in many ways, and Temmin comes to understand his responsibility in the affairs of the kingdom with all its social complexities. This is an insightful and beautiful novel. Read the full review here.

***

3. The Silence of Medair by Andrea K. Host

Sub-genre: High Fantasy/Epic Fantasy

Ebook Price: $3.99 USD at Smashwords and Amazon

Why should you read it?: This book has one of the most original premises in fantasy literature of all time. Instead of the heroine going off to fight an epic battle, it starts with the heroine’s kingdom losing the fight, and she has to come to terms with the aftermath of invasion and colonization. It deals with heavy political themes, but its written with great care, and it’s ultimately a book about sacrifice, loyalty, and hope. The Silence of Medair deconstructs standard fantasy ideas about empire and heroism while maintaining an earnest emotional core. Read the full review here.

***

If you’re interested in more fantasy reads, you can browse through these blog’s fantasy posts. If you’re looking for a sub-genre, you can browse by speculative fiction sub-genre.

Another book worthy of mention is The Sable City (of the Norothian Cycle series) by M. Edward McNally. The Norothian Cycle is shaping up to be an entertaining D&D throwback filled with rich historical world-building. I highly recommend that with a disclaimer that the world-building infodumping goes overboard in the first book, but it’s becoming a smoother ride as the series develops.

Christopher Bunn’s The Tormay Trilogy

This is a five-star fantasy trilogy that drove me crazy waiting for the final volume, which was released in the course of the summer. In many ways this series reminded me of The Lord of the Rings, which is the highest compliment I can pay any fantasy novel. I do not mean that this was derivative at all. Rather, the sensation of an ancient conflict stirring again, of magics lost and found, heroes struggling against the world and their own natures, and an almost Frodo-like fail near the end all compounded to form a truly wonderful epic. This story is told in a lighthearted manner as well, not dark and gloomy like so much of contemporary fantasy. Aside from a few flaws, which you can read of in the various reviews linked below, this was the best indie reading experience of the summer for me.

Full Reviews:
The Hawk and His Boy
The Shadow at the Gates
The Wicked Day

Lindsay Buroker’s The Emperor’s Edge

I’d never read anything that could be described as “steampunk” before, and while I think the author herself would say these are more high fantasy in a Victorian-level society, it still holds that these books are likely to really appeal to fans of steampunk. And I must say that this first volume in the planned series is just phenomenal. It’s part mystery, part action-adventure, and just filled with some of the best characterization I’ve read in an indie novel–in any novel, I’d dare say, actually. Each of the six main characters are so distinctive that you can recognize them easily without dialogue tags or without their names being mentioned in the middle of any given scene. The plot ain’t half bad either, but it is overshadowed by the characterization without a doubt.

Full Review:
The Emperor’s Edge
Dark Currents (sequel)
Encrypted (unrelated novel set in same universe)

Robert Clear’s The Cambridge List

Just like the preceding novel, this one surprised me. I’m not a great fan of contemporary fantasy, and yet I really enjoyed this one. But that is probably because it’s not your typical contemporary fantasy. There are no mages or wizards running around modern England. No ancient artifacts of magical power from some long-dead civilization obsessed with the occult. This is a book that starts with the idea of what if the Greek gods are real and are really angered by the way modern academia dismisses them as fantasy. It’s a wonderful satire of academic life, being set in and around Cambridge University, and feels like a novel approach to the villain-as-hero kind of story. The classical mythology adds a lot here, far more than to some other series that attempt to revive the Greek gods (I’m looking at you, Percy Jackson!). This is also the funniest book I’ve read in a long, long time.

Full Review:
The Cambridge List

And those are my top three of the summer. I’ll have a full review of a new novel ready next week some time, but let me just say that if you haven’t read the above novels, you’ve missed some great books. Grab ‘em now!

4/5 stars

Description:
Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is good at her job: she can deter thieves and pacify thugs, if not with a blade, then by toppling an eight-foot pile of coffee canisters onto their heads. But when ravaged bodies show up on the waterfront, an arson covers up human sacrifices, and a powerful business coalition plots to kill the emperor, she feels a tad overwhelmed.

Worse, Sicarius, the empire’s most notorious assassin, is in town. He’s tied in with the chaos somehow, but Amaranthe would be a fool to cross his path. Unfortunately, her superiors order her to hunt him down. Either they have an unprecedented belief in her skills… or someone wants her dead.

Review:
The Emperor’s Edge is a charming and exhilarating fantasy adventure set in an era of steam. It follows Amaranthe, a lawful good-type police officer, who ends up being charged for crimes against the throne. She finds herself working with unlikely allies, including an amoral assassin, as they try to stop nefarious plots to kill the emperor, with a lot of adventure, mystery, and humour.

It’s fast-paced, action-packed, and it grabbed me right from the first page. It keeps a playful tone with a lot of banter and witty commentary on each page. With the writing style’s wit and genre-savvy moments, I’ll venture out on a limb and compare it to Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series. Buroker also does the world-building so smoothly that the reader doesn’t notice that they’ve absorbed essence of the city of “Stumps” with each newspaper headline of bear attacks on Wharf Street and each strange beheaded statue.

The world is really interesting. It’s high fantasy, yet it takes place in an empire where magic is outlawed and is only used by foreign subversives or urban gangs. Amaranthe working as an enforcer is quite the exception, as women have dominated the eras of commerce, but haven’t been accepted in other sectors of this militaristic empire. It’s filled with lively interactions between denizens of various social classes, and it makes the setting very distinctive.

Amaranthe is a likeable and memorable protagonist. She has some combat ability, but her skill lies in persuading others to work with her and coming up with creative ways to solve problems. There’s quite a bit of chasing, escaping, and combat, and it’s all refreshingly fun to read because of the original methods she employs. She uses a lot of odd props and the environment to her advantage, and comes up with a zany but practical plan to save the emperor. The other characters are also lively individuals with a lot of depth, and I liked every member of their misfit crew.

What makes this book especially strong is the conflict between Amaranthe’s goals and the amoral approaches to attaining them. While there are a few evil guys, everyone else is just a normal person doing their jobs. She feels sympathy for many of the mooks that they have to take down, because she used to be an enforcer just like them. I liked how she didn’t take the decision to harm others lightly, and the choices she made were consistent with her values.

There were a few eyebrow-raising moments. I felt like that a few humourous quips were taken too far, as they didn’t fit the tone of the scene. I was also a bit skeptical of the extent of Amaranthe’s ability to charm others. Somehow for me, it wasn’t established that Amaranthe was that charming until midway through the story. But these moments only happen a couple of times, so these are minor nitpicks that won’t affect your enjoyment of this book.

The Emperor’s Edge is a fantastic novel, and it’s one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read this year. If you’re looking for a fantasy adventure, you really can’t go wrong with this one. It’s highly recommended and I’m definitely reading the sequel.

Other reviews of The Emperor’s Edge: SFBook, Reader review by m. s. jackson

You might like this if you like…
Steampunk, a fantasy adventure with a sense of humour, Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, intelligent protagonists that find creative ways of knocking down/subverting mooks, some pretty zany city architecture

If you’re looking for a new fantasy series to follow, you’re in luck! The sequel, Dark Currents, is already out on Smashwords and Amazon, and with more installments to come. I also reviewed Flash Gold, which shares a similar mix of (1) action-packed fantasy adventure (2) wintery steampunk setting (3) female protagonist with moxie partnered up with a tall, dark, and assassiney sorta fellow. Encrypted is set in the same world as The Emperor’s Edge and it’s also been getting excellent reviews.

Hey, it’s our first reader review! This review is from m. s. jackson who blogs at Lapsus Calumni. He reviews fantasy books and blogs about fantasy, RPGs, and other sorts of goodness.

Reader rating for The Emperor’s Edge: 4/5 stars

I will be honest, I picked up this eBook with a bit of trepidation. Ms Buroker is a new, fledging author and even though I loved her other book, I wondered if Flash Gold could have been a fluke. I will also admit the cover threw me off. Looking at the cover (I had not seen the previous cover), it reminded me of some dramatic rambling historical love story, or one of those serious thought provoking explorations of love amid the backdrop of World War II on an Indian island.

That said, wow was I wrong!

The book is sub-titled “A high fantasy novel in an era of steam” and is a hybrid of Victorian era stylings with touches of steam technology and fantasy elements such as slight magical effects and spells. Neither of these play too much importance in the story. Magic only affects the story by forcing the characters to take certain paths mainly because they themselves have almost zero access to magic. This setting is exactly the sort of thing I enjoy and has all of my favorite things. Lindsay, add a zeppelin and I could marry you.

I will set up the tale briefly. The book tells the tale of a strong, smart and exceptionally able young woman named, Amaranthe Lokdon. Due to Ms Buroker’s great skill at writing, I will put aside my normal complaint of odd names that are a pain to mentally read each time I come across them in text.

Amaranthe is what amounts to a beat cop as the story begins, but she soon finds herself thrown into the middle of a mysterious whirlwind of crime, royalty, and organized crime. Beginning as a bit goody-two-shoes and wet-behind-the-ears regulation spouting stuffy she changes during the course of the book. As the story unfolds, Amaranthe comes into her own and ends up being a confident and formidable opponent, usually not by her skill at weapons, but her deft and admirable wit. She is a very likable and interesting character. I often found myself chuckling at the sidebar mental comments she has, especially when she is dealing with the other main characters in the book. Ms Buroker is amazingly witty in her prose.

I do not want to give away too much, but the colorful troupe of characters she ends up running with are some of the most entertaining fellows one could hope to meet. Maldynado, I think I spelled it right, was instantly my favorite and his interaction with Amaranthe are some of my favorite in the book. The budding romances Amaranthe finds herself drawn into (mind you these never get beyond thought and in no way is this a romantic story) add depth and sub-plots that the author could easily expound upon in the future.

Each of the characters are well thought out and have a recognizable ‘voice’ if you know what I mean, making conversations easily read without the usual descriptors to define who is speaking. The individual side plots of redemption and discovering that you are more than a simple hunky model, or street scum, or old drunkard, or murderer are all engaging and make you want the character to not only survive their ordeal, but rise to the top. There is a moment, oh so Hollywood, where the lead character says she will go alone, that this is not their fight and then one by one they all select to follow her. This scene is…well, heartwarming and cliché but Ms Buroker’s skill makes it hard to recognize it as cliché ! I found myself very pleased that events progressed as they did.

My only complaint with the tale was that Amaranthe seems strangely adept at getting herself into trouble throughout the book. At one point near the end, I actually said to myself “Oh goodness, she gets captured…again!” That said, these do serve a point and clearly shows the depth of Amaranthe’s growth as a character in the course of the book. In the beginning she clearly needed rescuing, not even considering an escape, by the end, escape is formulating in her mind before they have shut the cell door behind her.

I have a hard time doing this because having rated Flash Gold four stars, no doubt someone will just say I was bribed, or I am a friend of the author, but I have to say this book was so excellent, such a good read, that I am giving it four stars as well. It is easily one of the best I have read in a long time. I spent an entire Sunday, that I should have been doing other things, doing nothing but turning my digital pages, eager to see what happens next.

Do yourself a favor and get in on the early works of a great up coming author, and don’t miss the great adventure she has spun for us to enjoy.

This review can also be found on m. s. jackson’s blog here.

Thanks to m. s. jackson for the review. I’m reviewing The Emperor’s Edge in a little bit, so it’ll be interesting to compare our thoughts on the book. My first introduction to Buroker’s work was also Flash Gold. It’s starting to make me wonder if her books could be described as (1) action-packed fantasy adventure (2) set in a steampunky and cold environment (3) female protagonist with moxie paired up with a tall, dark, and assassiney sort of guy. Feel free to chime in if you’re familiar with Buroker’s other work. I’m not complaining about that mix (especially when I really enjoyed it the first time around), but it’s hard to not notice the similarities

For a start, Dark Currents once again features Amaranthe, Sicarius, and the rest of the crew as they continue seeking out good deeds to do in the empire in order to exonerate themselves, Amaranthe and Sicarius being wanted by the crown for crimes against…well, the crown. In Amaranthe’s case, she’s on the receiving end of a misunderstanding. Sicarius is, well, an assassin. This novel really begins to bring forward the difficult time Amaranthe is going to have clearing her name given her associations, and in that sense Buroker has a long and exciting series ahead for us readers.

On to the story itself: once again, the characters shine. The group is growing more and more comfortable together and really learning to work as a team. In this sense, Buroker has collected a nice array of characters with a wide array of talents. Perhaps it is a bit clichéd in that we have our intrepid leader, the assassin, the academic, the silent man with the secret past, the inexperienced magician, and the dandified swordsman, but each of these characters does manage to be more than these short labels imply, and in that sense I am glad to see that Buroker has not rested on her laurels and allowed the clichés to take over. Books, for example, is not only an academic, he’s also a recovering alcoholic, a man pining for his dead wife, and longing for a family; the only real part where the cliché comes into play is in the fact that he doesn’t know which end of a sword to hold in a fight.

The plot is nicely seeded with misdirection. This is a mystery after all, and there are several moments when I sat back and said to myself, “Well, I didn’t see that coming.” And those moments were well implemented here. That is, they did not seem to come out of nowhere but were carefully foreshadowed early in the narrative. But while it was a fun story, it wasn’t the most original: Angry wizard out for revenge sells his soul (and dignity) to lure the object of his hatred into a secluded area where he almost manages to trap and kill him before being outsmarted and killed himself. There’s not a terrible amount of depth to the plot beyond that, but then I think Buroker herself will admit that her stories are more about the characters themselves than the plot, though it is very action driven at that. Still, the story is more concerned with how Amaranthe’s ragtag group of fugitives comes to rely on each other as a family rather than on the action of catching the bad guy.

Which brings me to my one real complaint: I grew increasingly frustrated with Amaranthe as Dark Currents progressed. Frustration is not an emotion that I like to feel when reading, even if it is the emotion the characters themselves feel. Amaranthe’s unwillingness to listen to Sicarius’ sound advice and her willingness to act on every crazy scheme she has is tiring. In this sense, I fear that Buroker’s formula may wear thin fast, for that is very much how the first novel ran. Once, and it is fun, entertaining, and nerve-wracking. Twice, and I grow frustrated that Amaranthe doesn’t seem to learn from past experience.

Even with that concern, I really enjoyed Dark Currents by the end. The resolution, which results from a very cleverly implemented bit of misdirection by Sicarius, made me forgive Amaranthe her frustrating habit, at least momentarily. Perhaps this was Buroker’s cleverness as a writer all along. Perhaps she wanted me to almost scream in frustration only to see somebody with some brains outsmart everyone else. From what I’ve seen of Buroker’s writing thus far, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and say that I wouldn’t put such a maneuver past her.

My Rating: ★★★★★

At the heart of this story is the hunt for some sort of hidden relic/ancient weapon. In fact, the best comparison I can make here is to the Indiana Jones films (not the new one!) in the way Buroker combines conspiracy, action, romance, and mystery. The artifacts hidden beneath a mountain in some arctic region also avoids feeling like a simple MacGuffin conjured by the author to throw characters together. Buroker, in telling the story through an outsider’s point-of-view, has managed to really make the reader care about the weapon not falling into the wrong hands, for the genocide of an entire people is essentially on the cards if they do.

The characters in Encrypted stand up to the same sort of scrutiny that made The Emperor’s Edge such a delight to read. Tikaya struggles increasingly with torn loyalties. Initially, she knows exactly what she wants and what to do to achieve those goals. As black and white fades ever more into grey for her, she begins to battle not only with her place in the world but also with her relationship to Rias, the love interest. He has a pretty sizable secret he’s keeping from her, and if I have one complaint it would lie in how quickly Tikaya gets over finding out. Then again, the moment I learnt who he really was, I also felt her reaction was a little overboard. It’s that sort of mixed reaction on my part that I praise Buroker for inducing, for that reaction is exactly the kind that Tikaya goes through. I always love it when an author is able to make me feel exactly what her characters are feeling.

Encrypted is set about sixteen years prior to The Emperor’s Edge, but it is in no way a prequel–not unless the author has plans to eventually tie the two together (you heard it here first!)–so it is not necessary to read this one before the other. They are ultimately very different books, but I can guarantee that if you like the one, you’ll like the other. Support the author and pick up both. You’ll be glad you did.

My Rating: ★★★★★

Author Website: E-book Endeavors

*Note: Lindsay Buroker’s Dark Currents, a sequel to The Emperor’s Edge, was released this past week. I’ll have a review for that one in the next week or so, so get reading!

Let me say a word about the universe Buroker has created here. As mentioned, and as the subtitle indicates (A high fantasy novel in an era of steam), this story is set in a world that has reached the steam age. While there are lots of references throughout to steam engines and other such Victorian-era technology, the universe still panders very much to traditional high fantasy audiences. There is magic aplenty. There is sword-fighting (indeed, far more swordplay than gunplay). There is a definite aristocratic system that holds all the political power. And yet, there is also an emphasis on the power of women and on the little folk in general to change the world. This is a universe in flux, moving into something like capitalism and in which women are shaking free from the dominance of men.

Buroker’s characters are all of them engaging and fantastic, with individual personalities so perfectly worked out that you could spot who is speaking at any given time even without the dialog tags. The Emperor’s Edge brings before us the aforementioned Amaranthe, an enforcer framed and set to act outside the law to save the emperor; Sicarius, a near-invincible assassin who is also as verbose as a mute, guarded and grumpy in the extreme; Books, an alcoholic ex-professor on the mend; Maldynado, an aristocratic cavalier cum gigolo;  and Akstyr, a moody young wizard-in-training, which is all very hush-hush as magic is technically illegal. And those are just the “good guys.” There’s all kinds of great misdirection when it comes to the villains, and in the end I was left wondering whether some were really as bad as they seemed or were just on the wrong side in a very complicated set of circumstances. Truly, very few (if any) here are purely good or purely evil.

It is that level of character and plot depth that I really like about The Emperor’s Edge. It’s the kind of mixture that leaves you wanting to read on, to read more about the characters and the world, to find out what happens after you read the final page. And, having just learnt that a sequel is on the way, I’ll get my wish soon enough.

My Rating: ★★★★★

Author’s Website: E-book Endeavors

Fantasy author Lindsay Buroker announced yesterday that the price of The Emperor’s Edge has been dropped to to $0.99. The second in the steampunk series, Dark Currents, will be released in June, with a first chapter preview available here.

As I really enjoyed reading Buroker’s Flash Gold and Ice Cracker II, I’m set on reading and reviewing The Emperor’s Edge in the near future. If the description over at Smashwords + the sale price of $0.99 entices you enough, there’s nothing stopping you from grabbing it right now.

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Sequel to God’s War coming earlier than expected

Kameron Hurley announced earlier this month that Infidel, the sequel to God’s War, will be coming out in October 2011. I know Night Shade isn’t exactly small press, but they’re still independent and damn God’s War was such an awesome book that I’m going to review it anyway. More conspiracies on our favourite cancerous Muslim colonized planet? Want to see how our dame Nyx beats the odds all badass Ellen Ripley-style? Yes please. I hope there’s even more body horror, regardless of who has to take the punishment. This series ain’t for the squeamish, but this blog has the body horror tag for a reason I look forward to the bugs, harvested organs, and barely recognizable body parts.

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June’s Review Preview

I have one more review in May–Ian Fraser’s The Depths of Deception. It’s a thriller set in the dystopian near-future with a revenge plot. Simon Royle’s futuristic thriller TAG will soon follow. I just noticed that both these thrillers primarily take place outside of North America (actually in the Depths of Deception, North America is erased from the world), so the “international” part of world-building is definitely something I’ll be paying attention to in my reviews.

We’ll be taking a look at Abner Senire’s cyberpunk pulp action adventure Kat and Mouse: Guns for Hire. The protagonists are sassy sisters-in-arms. I’ll report how the pulp action unfolds. Cheers to moxie and pulp ridiculousness!

Then finally, we’ll be returning to the fantasy turf with M. Edward McNally’s The Sable City. It’s an epic fantasy with muskets & magic, dwarves & samurai, and the highest word count out of the books on my review list to date: 183,000 words. Reading it will take me a while, but I’ll be keeping up with my minimum every 10-days review schedule.

For all those who’ve been following this blog, thanks for all your support. I’m happy to see such an interest in indie speculative fiction. This is my first blog and I started it without any real expectations, but it’s neat to see more than 2,000 views in the first two months of a single-author book blog. Good stuff, I hope I’ve been of help to your To-Read lists =)

It’s amazing how the landscape of independent publishing has changed radically over the past couple of years. I’ve only had my e-reader for a few months, but I feel like I’m able to access indie works like never before. I wasn’t even aware of independent publishing until I stumbled on J. A. Konrath’s blog three months ago, and now here we are. This blog won’t be able to cover everything indie and speculative fiction, but I hope it adds something to both the indie and SF/F blogosphere

Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is good at her job: she can deter thieves and pacify thugs, if not with a blade, then by toppling an eight-foot pile of coffee canisters onto their heads. But when ravaged bodies show up on the waterfront, an arson covers up human sacrifices, and a powerful business coalition plots to kill the emperor, she feels a tad overwhelmed.

Worse, Sicarius, the empire’s most notorious assassin is in town. He’s tied in with the chaos somehow, but Amaranthe would be a fool to cross his path. Unfortunately, her superiors order her to hunt him down. Either they have an unprecedented belief in her skills… or someone wants her dead.

Follow this link to get it in any ebook format for $2.99.