Previous SFF Author: Lucius Shepard
(1974- )
Joel Shepherd is an Australian author. Born in Adelaide, he studied film and television, international relations, has interned on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, and has traveled widely in Asia. He also writes science fiction. For more information, check out Joel Shepherd’s website.
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Australian author Joel Shepherd came to my attention via his excellent current fantasy series, A TRIAL OF BLOOD AND STEEL, which I was so impressed by that I decided to check out his earlier novels. Crossover is the first novel in his CASSANDRA KRESNOV trilogy, and was also his first published book, back in 2001 in Australia. The series is now also in print in the US thanks to Pyr, with lovely and evocative cover illustrations by Stephen Martiniere.
Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Breakaway, the second Cassandra Kresnov novel by Australian SF and fantasy author Joel Shepherd, picks up soon after the ending of series opener Crossover. Sandy, a highly advanced artificial human with military training, is now attached to a squad of SWAT agents, while also helping the government of Callay review its network security. Despite the sensitive nature of this work, and her ongoing integration into Callay society, many political and religious factions still take issue with her presence.
Stefan Raets´s rating: 3.5 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Killswitch, the final book in Joel Shepherd’s CASSANDRA KRESNOV trilogy, picks up the story 2 years after the end of Breakaway. The Federation is still going through a period of upheaval, with Callayan President Neiland trying to make Tanusha the capital of the formerly Earth-based organization, and numerous powerful factions (including Federation Fleet warships) converging on the planet to try and affect the outcome of this political power play.
Meanwhile, Callay is still in the process of setting up the administrative and military infrastructure necessary for its new function,
Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | no comments |
23 Years on Fire by Joel Shepherd
23 Years on Fire is the fourth book in Joel Shepherd’s CASSANDRA KRESNOV series, a set of military SF books set several hundred years in future, in a distant galaxy. Cassandra Kresnov, who goes by Sandy, is the commander of the galactic Federal Security Agency, or FSA’s, special operations branch. She is also a GI, a combat-designed 100% synthetic person. Sandy must deal with the prejudices of original humans and her own questions about the destiny and evolution of her “people,” the synthetic soldiers.
Marion Deeds´s rating: 3 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Sasha is the first volume in A TRIAL OF BLOOD AND STEEL, a projected 4-book fantasy series by Australian author Joel Shepherd, who previously also published a science fiction trilogy called the CASSANDRA KRESNOV series. His novels have been available in Australia for several years, and are now being released in the US thanks to Pyr, with Petrodor, the next volume in A TRIAL OF BLOOD AND STEEL,
Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Petrodor picks up shortly after the ending of Sasha, the first novel in Joel Shepherd‘s A Trial of Blood and Steel series. Sashandra Lenayin (Sasha for short) now resides in the Torrovan port city Petrodor, a true hotbed of intrigue with several political factions squaring off against each other. With a brewing Verenthane crusade to retake the Bakosh provinces that are occupied by the serrin, war is in the air, and the tensions between the various camps are threatening to come to a boil: the powerful and rich merchant families,
Stefan Raets´s rating: 4 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Tracato is the third installment in Joel Shepherd’s excellent A Trial of Blood and Steel fantasy quartet, and not only is it the best book in the series so far, it’s also one of the best new fantasy novels I’ve read all year.
The continent of Rhodia, shared by a fractured human civilization and the non-human serrin, finally begins to inch towards full-scale war. The northern Verenthane countries, with their conflicted and somewhat reluctant goeren-yai allies, are marching south to reclaim the Saalshen Bacosh.
Stefan Raets´s rating: 4.5 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Haven is the fourth and final book in Joel Shepherd’s excellent A Trial of Blood and Steel fantasy series. If you’re not familiar with the series yet, please take a look at my reviews about the first three novels above, as well as my article about them over at tor.com. If an excellent fantasy series that’s low on magic and high on morally ambiguous characters and complex politics in the vein of George R.R. Martin’s A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE (to which this series has been compared by many reviewers) sounds good to you,
Stefan Raets´s rating: 3.5 | Joel Shepherd | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Previous SFF Author: Lucius Shepard
Thanks for the kind words, Marion! Coming as they are from a professional writer, they are much appreciated!
Wonderful review, Sandy.
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one