The best way to understand the world of Vlad Taltos, assassin, is to begin with the knowledge that he works almost exclusively for the elvish mafia. Yes, there are elves in the mafia. There’s also magical pollution, talking lizards, and lots of good swashbuckling fun.
I was first introduced to CS Friedman’s work with the Coldfire Trilogy, an excellent exploration of the consequences of introducing humans into a world where magic is shaped by belief – and thus gives life to our worst nightmares. I quickly located her other extant works, The Madness Season (with which I was similarly delighted) and In Conquest Born… which was a story with potential, but which ultimately disappointed me.
In Burnt Offerings some of the eggs laid in Circus of the Damned end up coming home to roost. Specifically, the vampire “Council” is visiting in order to investigate Jean-Claude’s intentions following the death of Mr. Oliver. Normally, when you kill a member of the vampire council, you assume his seat. But Jean-CLaude didn’t kill Oliver; that honor belongs to Anita. The only problem is, Jean-CLaude isn’t a strong enough vampire to hold the council seat – and if they find out Anita did the killing, she’ll be next on the menu.
The Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan is a fantasy novel built around a very common premise, but presented with uncommon skill. Consider a world wherein the practice of magic is dominated by a guild that restricts training for magery to those citizens of the upper classes, allowing effortless oppression of the lower classes. Inevitably, someone from a less distinguished social class discovers a talent for magic, and finds her life irreversibly changed. The basic plotline has been done in hundreds of variations, but rarely with the skillful painting of characters and interrelated plots that can be found here.
The first volume in the Chronicles of the Lensmen, Triplanetary brings a tedious 6-chapter introduction to the universe of the Lensmen before focusing on the intricacies of the story itself… the story of a time before the Lens, and humanity’s first successful encounters with the agents of Eddore. There’s a lot of science, a lot of heroic secret-agent-scientists, and a lot of interstellar conflict with impressive technobabble. Clearly, this is where space opera was born.
This 1990’s cyberpunk story is a victim of time and history. When originally published, nobody really knew what the internet would look like, and people could make up whatever they wanted about humans merging with machines and it would seem at least plausible. Twenty-three years later, people are pretty sure what the Internet looks like and it’s not what you find in Synners. That doesn’t make it any less interesting to consider the implications of merging the human mind with computer-augmented virtual reality.
Disaster. Betrayed by the rulers of Taglios at the very gates of the Glittering Plain, betrayed again as those few surviving members of the Old Company are just beginning to explore the mysteries they have long sought. Only Goblin and One-Eye of the Old Company have escaped the trap, joining with their Taglian brothers to continue the battle. Water Sleeps, the Book of Sleepy, details that struggle as it takes on the quality of a guerilla war. The Black Company are but a few men in hiding, but the Black Company will neither forget their fellow soldiers trapped beneath the Glittering Plain, nor forgive the betrayals that put them there.
The Silver Gryphon is the third book in Lackey’s Mage Wars trilogy, which itself is an attempt to fill in some major backstory to her Valdemar universe. It’s not particularly memorable, and there are few ties to the larger world and story of Valdemar itself. Even if you’ve read the first two books in this trilogy, you’re safe skipping this one. It’s really bad, but in an inoffensive way.
Etjole Ehomba is just a herder of sheep and cattle among the small tribe of the Naumkib. When strange-looking foreigners wash up mostly dead on the beach near their village, Etjole is suddenly propelled on a journey of unknown (but presumably high) difficulty by the dying charge of one of the light-skinned strangers. Taking up a quest to rescue a woman he has never met from an evil that has already claimed dozens, if not hundreds of lives of those who have already tried, Etjole seems completely outmatched. He is, after all, only a herdsman.
The Black Company opened Glen Cook’s dark military fantasy with a flood of smoke and flame. The story continues in Shadows Linger, as the Black Company begins to learn the dirty little secret the Lady left in her grave when an unwitting wizard freed her. If the Lady is a merciless, uncaring tyrant, than the Dominator cares very, very much about the betrayal that left him trapped. And not in a loving, tender sort of way.