Books for May

The Gates of Dawn by Robert Newcomb

Review

In this tale of high fantasy in a dark and forbidding world, the protagonist Prince Tristan has found himself the head of the army that invaded his land and killed his family; an army that he has struggled for a long time to destroy. Now, though, the Minions of Day and Night, a army of winged creatures from a foreign land, have been told to free the common people, create order and stop some of their more barbaric customs, which understandably isn't going down too well. Added to that problem, Tristan's own son, Nicholas, who died when he was born, has returned from death to bring back an ancient enemy whose powers are so mighty that they could unmake the world. His servants, the blood stalker Ragnar and the assassin Scrounge, are soon on the lookout for any way to capture Tristan and bring him to Nicholas. With armies massing, the ritual beginning, and the faces of their dreaded enemy looming in the sky, Tristan seeks to undo what Nicholas is attempting, before it is too late.

Subterranean by James Rollins

Review

In this terrifying story of a lost world buried deep beneath the ice, the United States government has launched a scientific expedition to the frozen Antarctic. They have the best help that money can buy, military support, all the tools they need and a research base in a cavern a mile underground. But there's something wrong with the whole setup. Why are there so many soldiers surrounding the perimeter of the camp? What happened to the soldier who mysteriously disappeared while on watch duty in one of the deeper caverns? As the team investigates the cavern and begins to discover remnants of an ancient underground civilization, they realize that despite all logic, they are not alone down there. As they venture out into a subterranean world, they learn that there was another team that went down before them. And they didn't come back.

Excavation by James Rollins

Review

In this tale of mystery and Inca treasure, Professor Henry Conklin has found a mummy buried in an Inca burial site, one that, according to examinations of the body, was not Incan. After freezing the mummy and taking it back to the lab, Henry and his partner Professor Joan Engel find that the mummy was in fact, European. What was it doing in a South American burial site? Even more mystifying is the golden substance which fills the mummy's skull, one that acts like no metal known to man. Meanwhile, back at the dig, Henry's students find that their security team was secretly robbing the dig, and in the process of trying to stop them, they are trapped in the rapidly collapsing tomb. The only way out seems to be through a trap-filled treasure room, which has claimed the lives of two men already. Can they escape and solve the mystery of the golden metal? Or will they lose their lives at the hands of the organization which tried to rob the dig in the first place?

-- JackW - 01 May 2010