Science Fiction & Fantasy

May 2009

The title-underlined links will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

Orphan's alliance, by Robert Buettner. (2009)
"Jason's army defeated the slugs on Bren and now, fifteen years later, he finds himself once more commanding an invasion force. This time they must expel the Slugs from a small moon, where they decimated the human inhabitants. Although Earth has finally begun to mobilise against the aggressors, a new and problematic faction has arisen. The totalitarian government of Tressel, a strategically-situated planet, is willing to defeat the Slugs at any cost, regardless of the human casualties." (Amazon)

Turn coat : a novel of the Dresden files, by Jim Butcher. (2009)
"The past misdeeds of Harry Dresden, professional wizard, cause the Wardens of the White council of Wizards, the wizards responsible for enforcing the Laws of Magic, to be suspicious of him. Unfortunately Harry is faced with a nightmarish dilemma: Morgan, formerly his chief persecutor among the Wardens, has been wrongly accused of treason against the White Council and has come to Harry for help. He will have to clear Morgan's name while simultaneously hiding him from the Wardens and the supernatural bounty hunters sent to find him, discover the identity of the true turncoat and, of course, avoid accusations of treachery of his own." (Amazon)

Rides a dread legion, by Raymond E. Feist. (2009)
"Ten years after the cataclysmic events of Wrath of a Mad God occurred; Midkemia now faces a new danger thought to be buried in myth and antiquity. A lost race of elves, the taredhel or 'people of the stars', have found a way across the universe to reach Midkemia. On their current home world, these elves were crushed by a ravaging demon horde, and what was once a huge empire has been reduced to a handful of survivors. The cornerstone of taredhel lore is the tale of their lost origins in the world they call simply 'Home', a place lost in the mists of time. Now they are convinced that Midkemia is that place, and they are coming to reclaim it. Ruthless and arrogant, the taredhel intend to let nothing stand in their way; but before long, Pug and the Conclave realise that it's not necessarily the elves, but the demon horde pursuing them where the true danger lies." (Amazon)

Yellow blue tibia, by Adam Roberts. (2009)
"In Russia, 1946, with the Nazis recently defeated, Stalin gathers half a dozen of the top Soviet science fiction authors in a dacha in the countryside. Convinced that the defeat of America is only a few years away and equally convinced that the Soviet Union needs a massive external threat to hold it together, he asks the writers to concoct a story about aliens poised to invade earth, with complete detail and to be totally believable. After months of work the writers are told drop the project, that Stalin has changed his mind and to forget everything about it. They get on with their lives in their various ways; some of them survive the remainder of Stalin's rule, the changes of the 50s and 60s. And then, in the aftermath of Chernobyl, the survivors gather again, because something strange has started to happen. The story they invented in 1946 is starting to come true." (Amazon)

WWW : wake, by Robert J. Sawyer. (2009)
"Caitlin Decter is young, pretty, feisty, a genius at math, and blind. Still, she can surf the net with the best of them, following its complex paths clearly in her mind. But Caitlin's brain long ago co-opted her primary visual cortex to help her navigate online. So when she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness, spreading out all around her in a riot of colours and shapes. While exploring this amazing realm, she discovers something, some other entity, lurking in the background. It is getting more and more intelligent with each passing day." (Amazon)

Seven for a secret, Elizabeth Bear. (c2009)
"Lady Abigail Irene Garrett and vampyr Don Sebastien de Ulloa resurface in a 1938 London that has been under German rule for over a decade. With the British king in exile in the Americas and the German Chancellor gathering a force of werewolves, the amateur detective duo plan to use magic to defeat the occupation." (Amazon)

Dragon in chains, by Daniel Fox. (2009)
"Pirate captain Li Ton needs a new ship's boy, having worn out the old one, so he captures apprentice scribe Han, who becomes infected with magic in a duel. When Li Ton kills the monks who forge links to the chain binding an ancient undersea dragon, he and Han are caught up in a multilayered tale of supernatural creatures, a deposed emperor on the run and jade that grants extraordinary powers." (Amazon)

Dream warrior, Sherrilyn Kenyon. (2009)
"The son of Warcraft and Hate, Cratus has spent eternity battling for the ancient gods who birthed him, he is death. Now that an ancient enemy has been unleashed, Cratus's task is to destroy it. Delphine Toussaint is a philanthropist whose passion is for world peace. When a chance meeting brings her together with Cratus, the two develop a striking bond. Cratus is at first baffled by this human and her open nature, but soon he realises that Delphine is the key to completing his mission." (Amazon)

Enclave, Kit Reed. (2009)
"In this gripping dystopian satire, ex-marine Sergeant Whitmore has a plan to make millions while protecting children from the self-destructing modern world. He turns an old Mediterranean monastery into a combined impenetrable fortress and school, and enrols 100 very wealthy children, most of them already well-known for legal troubles, drug problems and paparazzi run-ins. Once there, everyone is cut off from the outside world, fed only canned news stories about wars and natural disasters. When things inevitably go horribly wrong, young hacker "Killer" Stade, physician assistant Cassie, drug and sex-crazed Sylvie and monastery-raised orphan Benny all attempt heroics, but there is a stranger amongst them bringing death." (Amazon)

The gene thieves, Maria Quinn. (2009)
"Brilliant, lonely genetic scientist Piggy Brown is desperate for a child, but he's in a tricky legal situation. Dancer is a lawyer with his own reasons for wanting to grant Piggy's dearest wish, and he can set up Conjugal Contracts which push the envelope of the law.
Dancer visits The Nest, the official centre for surrogates, and inveigles them into recommending someone they have used before, someone who won't ask too many questions about the baby she carries. When a grotesque kidnapping occurs, everything is thrown into chaos and Jack Lee, Chief Investigator for the UN Ethical Science Council, decides it’s time to take charge of the case, for the sake of humanity's future." (Book cover)

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