Books for March

Living Hell by Catherine Jinks

Review

In the far-flung future, great carrier ships sail from Earth out into space to find other planets to colonize. Many of those on board are placed in stasis, woken periodically to aid with the control of the ship. Once your turn comes around, you serve for a couple years and then go back to sleep. Such is the case with Plexis, a spacecraft so advanced it uses biological organisms to help it maintain its enclosed environment. But after a unknown form of radiation passes through the ship, these systems, which people have relied on for centuries to keep their life support on and maintain the ship, begin to act strangely. Bacteria in the ship mutate, transforming the sterile cleaning robots, mainframe and other bits of technology into living creatures. What the humans on shift suddenly realize, after losing one of their members, is that the ship is now acting like a living creature. And the ship's mainframe, thanks to people in another sector striking a transformed machine, recognizes them as intruders...

The Demon King by Cinda Chima

Review

The Demon King opens with Han Alister, a reformed thief and gang boss, struggling to eke out a living for him and his family. Finding that getting his food honestly is a lot harder than in his former career, he often spends time with his friends in the clans, hunting for game. As his situation gets more desperate, though, he never considers selling the wonderful silvers cuffs on his wrists. That's because he can't get them off, and everyone is very cagey about how he got them. While Han and his friend Dancer are out hunting, they encounter three young wizards who are burning their hunting grounds to scare out the deer. When Han takes the amulet one of the wizards used to perform the deed, he doesn't realize what he has done. The wizards, as corrupt as any other official in the kingdom, are not supposed to have items like this, as part of a ban imposed on them many years ago. Now they want it back, and so badly they'll kill anyone who gets in their way. Can Han outrun or outsmart a wizard?

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride?

Review

Douglas was only a boy when he found out he could see the dead. His Aunt showed him who he truly was: a necromancer. And a powerful one, at that. So powerful that he eventually killed his Aunt and rose to greatness through his accomplishments. Now, a middle-aged man, he is in control of a vast empire and utterly hated by everyone who knows him. He is as happy as a necromancer can ever be, when he discovers another of his kind in the area. Sam has no idea what he is, and his gift is weak enough that Douglas never noticed him. He confronts Sam and tells him to get out and stay out. Now Sam must struggle with his own identity, the parents that kept it from him and the threat that Douglas could make his life very miserable indeed if he doesn't do what he says...

Legacies by L E Modesitt, Jr.

Review

Legacies is a grand, sweeping fantasy epic, with a likable main character, a deep story and an original fantasy world that feels both real and fantastic. The book takes a little while to get going, starting with some world-building and character development, so you can really get to know Alucius, a herder, and the world of Corus begins to feel like a real place. While Alucius grow older, rumbles of a distant war begin to come out of the background and Alucius is forced to leave his family's homestead and join the Iron Valley militia. There, his Talent as a herder, his ability to influence events in the world around him with his mind, makes him both feared and respected. But when he faces the army of the Matrites, citizens of a distant nation who make their citizens wear collars that can tighten and kill them any time their leaders want, he is captured and collared. While in Madrien, Alucius sees both peace and prosperity brought by the fact that no one dares hurt each other, and the brutality of executions of people who never tried to harm anyone. Although he resolves to escape, he begins to wonder whether the peace brought is worth the violence it takes to enforce it, and worries whether humanity's baser instincts can only be contained by force. A wonderful read!

-- JackW - 06 Mar 2011