Issola by Steven Brust

“I miss the days when I used to be nostalgic.” ~Vlad Taltos

I’ve been slightly disappointed with the last few novels in Steven Brust’s VLAD TALTOS series, but with Issola, book 9, Brust returns to what I liked about the earlier books. While I admired Brust’s willingness to experiment with his world, his characters, and especially the narrative structure of his novels, I think he’s best when the overall plot is moving forward and Vlad is using his assassin skills to solve mysteries and help his powerful Dragonlord friends.

In Issola, we’re back to a present timeline. Vlad and Cawti are separated but Vlad is starting to recover from the funk he’s been in for quite a while now. He’s been run out of his organization and is hiding from them in the woods. Then Lady Teldra (an Issola who is servant to the ... Read More

Eric by Terry Pratchett

Up to this point I’ve always enjoyed Terry Pratchett's DISCWORLD books, and Faust Eric was no exception in that regard. It was a fun read. Still, I'm not as big of a fan of the Rincewind books as I am of some of the other DISCWORLD books centered around his other characters. Nothing against the cowardly, inept wizard Rincewind, I mean, Lord knows I'd probably react to the dangers of Discworld the same way he does, which is to turn tail and run whenever possible. However, overall I prefer the Witches books, or the Guards, or the Moist von Lipwig books to most of the Rincewind books.

Eric is a quick, enjoyable read, based on a premise that I absolutely loved, a re-telling of the Faust legend. At the beginning of the novel, Rincewind is summoned b... Read More

A Wizard of Mars

A Wizard of Mars is the ninth book in Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series and continues in the same strong vein as the others. At this point, there isn’t much to review in that if you’ve read the eighth book in a series, it’s pretty safe to assume you’re going to be picking up the ninth. But in a nutshell, if you do, you’ll be rewarded with the same quality you’ve become accustomed to and many of the same strengths. And if you haven’t read the previous eight and are checking out this review simply because it’s one of the most recent ones up, then stop reading (possible spoilers) and go pick up book one; it’s well worth the time you’ll invest as its one of the best fantasy wizard-based series going (and yes, that includes that other young wizard one). You should also know that the series only improves a... Read More