After reading this first book of Clemens' Wit'ch series I can't help but feel that I've just read a Robert Jordan "Wheel of Time" clone - with the difference that RJ takes more time introducing and developping his protagonists and his world/landscape. Not that I ever felt RJ could be compared with the real masters of storyline development like G.R.R Martin, Tad Williams or S.R.Donaldson. But, anyway, that's not the issue here...

Actually Wit'ch Fire starts out pretty enthralling. After a grim prelude with a grand magic ritual gone awry at the eve of destruction of a whole civilization, we meet young Elena and her brother 500 years later, when their sheltered life is abruptly thrown into uproar. Her family is slaughtered by evil magicians and the siblings have to run for their very lives. The initial action is pretty dire and tense and gets even more dynamic when Er'ril appears, the sole survivor of the afore mentioned ritual, who has wandered the world for centuries - bitter, desillusioned and past any hope for his doomed existance. A first climax of the plot is quickly reached, when the magicians who pursued Elena face Er'ril and his companions, resulting in the destruction of an evil avatar and the kidnapping of Elena's brother Joach by the surviving magician.

Until this point, I was like 'Wow, sinister and exciting - I'll love that series.' Alas I was terribly wrong. All of sudden, Clemens starts to add many secondary characters to his tale. Most of the introductions were hurried and pretty ungainly, so that I quickly lost interest to any of these subplots. I rushed through the book just to get to the chapters with Elena and Er'ril, but - oh what a disappointment - here things also turned out quite different than previously anticipated. Instead of taking time of develop Elena, to let her mature to a magic wielding witch who is slowing growing aware of her powers, she manages to handle her magic provebially over night. Also it takes only a few gremlins and a circulatory collapse of her beloved uncle to turn a frightened child to a resolute heroine. Not really plausible. But even worse is the development of Er'ril. Somebody who has lived as long as he did, should be past notions of a greenhorn swordsman, like impatience, misreading situations (i.e. when they first meet the shapechanger wolf, it's Elena who sees the wolf's intentions to help them, not the way more experienced Er'ril). Also I would have expected him to be much stronger in his beliefs: He has lived centuries with the concept that witchcraft is the ultimate evil. It should take more than just pity for a poor frightened child and shy smiles to make Er'ril offer Elena his service as protector and mentor. Ouh, oh, especially that sequence made me cringe: When Er'ril explains Elena that he's actually knows how to train young sorcerers, and that he'd be willing to lend his support to her, the whole scene is so casually described (10 lines), it could also have been the lighting of a cigarette. But that's symbolic for the whole book: It actually lacks depth (even despite the many subplots), most characters are pretty sketchy and Clemens' style itself ranges between trivial and pathetic at best.

Overall Wit'ch Fire disappointed me. Of course it holds some interesting ideas, and the concept of linking several individual plots into one grand scheme is ambitious. Especially since the individuals origin from very different cultures, races and even eras. But that isn't new and compared to other contemporary fantasy authors Clemens fares just poorly. Sure, not every debut of fantasy literature can be the second coming of G.R.R Martin, but Wit'ch Fire has too many weaknesses to come even close to a good fantasy novel. For me, the final dices have already been cast for this series: I won't waste time reading any of the other books of this series.

"Mistress of the Empire" probably would have been a blast if it would have come as a stand-alone fantasy novel. But as the final book of a great trilogy it has to be compared with the preceding books, which were absolutely outstanding, and here "Mistress" simply performs badly. Of course, Janny Wurts' writing is still excellent. Of course the plot is still quite intruiging and Lady Mara's uncanny knack to turn the tides to her favor at the very last moment meets all requirements for suspense. And of course the main characters are convincing both in background and motivation, but... havent we seen all that before in "Daughter/Servant of the Empire"?

To be honest, over the course of "Mistress" I simply grew bored of how events developped because they always appear to follow one and the same scheme: One urgency follows the other, Mara gets pushed to 'dare the unprecedented', desaster threatens and yet in the end Mara gets everything she aimed for (due to her 'innovative' actions and the usual heroics of her following) plus some unexpected but welcomed boons less a good scale of sacrificial deaths by people close to her household and heart. Good grief, gimme a break - dreaming must be allowed because after all this is fantasy literature, but did Mara really need to end up seeing her legacy on the emperor's throne, to win the favor of the most powerful mage of both Kelewon and Midkemia (though I feel that co-author Feist simply couldnt resist to give his favorite protagonist Pug a weightier appearance), to gain the protection of the Gods rendering herself virtually invincible and to regain her lost love Kevin due to the cheapest case of deus-et-machina-like intervention by the author?

I really think 'No', because "Mistress" still holds enough depth to make it a really good fantasy novel. Arakasi's incursion into the assassin fortress is gripping as anything and his ensuing affair with a beautiful slave girl is heart-breaking. The world of the alien Cho-ja, Lord Jiro's and his spymaster's plotting, and the revelation of the real purposes of the machinations of the magicians' assembly and everything that results from that are pretty good stories and settings within themselves. But alas Janny Wurts overshadows everything with Mara's greatness (even though Wurts tries to justify all of Mara's actions by purely being motivated out of necessity, survival and her concern for the well-being of the empire, but, sorry, I just dont buy that any longer) and therefore the whole story simply looses much of the usual credibility that marked "Daughter" and "Servant". A little bit less Mara would have maybe been better for the conclusion of this else spectacular fantasy trilogy.

Looks like Janet Evanovich has finally found her stride as 'Three to get deadly' so far tops the whole Stephanie Plum series with a great main plot (which is less predictable than many others of the series) and a multitude of Plum antics left and right, that leave no eye dry and doesnt let you off the hook for a single minute.

Our favorite bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum from Trenton, NJ, is once again in top form. This time she has to hunt down Uncle Mo'. No easy feat, as Mo is Trenton's most liked candy store owner, and Stephanie and her vivid and ever present friend Lula learn quickly, that nobody in Trenton is inclined to offer any assistance to her case. As a result, the two girls stumble from one slapstick situation to another until it becomes evident that Uncle Mo is everything else but your friendly candy seller next door.

But if that wasnt enough to turn her life into turmoil, Stephanie's path repeatedly crosses the ways of the two men in Steph's life, that would make her heart shake and her mind turn upside down. For once, there is the Italio-American cop Joe Morelli. He's charming as ever, attractive and protective - and the reader can't help but take pity with Stephanie's hormones each time Joe steps onto the scene. But then there's also Ranger, Stephanie's mentor. Professional, mysterious and matching Joe Morelli wit for wit and heartthrob for heartthrob. That three-way relation let alone could make up for a good story, but of course, Janet Evanovich has way more in mind for our heroine.

So we read more about Steph, her crew and her droll-and-yet-so-normal family, and we learn how challenging (and comical) it can be, if you gotta transport a corpse - especially when it's starting to become stiff as rock - with your Buick (love that car, one of the really great running gags that are so typical for the whole series, much like the guns every girl and grandma seems to be carrying along in Trenton or the ever changing style of Steph's hair, latter not always happening voluntarily). Or we see Steph chasing a chicken (a real big chicken as it is) on the loose through the big mall. And many more. Go, girl, get 'em all!

I read Chourmo in the german edition on a friend's recommendation and I swallowed it within 48 hrs. It's a witty, fast-paced and quite grim detective story - but first of all it's a love declaration to one of the most thrilling cities in Europe: Marseille.

The story centers on ex-cop Fabio Montale, who's spent most of his service in the suburbs of Marseille, the dangerous boiling pots of the poorest of poors and unliked immigrants from Africa and other former french colonies. He's seen it all - organized crime, racial discrimination, the rise of racist organisation 'Front National' and most of all death and loss. And many of the dead have been friends of Fabio Montale. Yet he can't let loose from this city of poison and charmes and when his beloved cousin Gelou asks him to investigate the disappearance of her son, he doesnt hesitate - simply because he's still too much of a detective at heart.

In the course of events, Montale gets mired in between the activities of religious fanatics, ambitious and corrupt police officers and dangerous mafia thugs as he stumbles rather coincidentally over several strings of crime that only get linked together due to his own interference. But Izzo doesnt disappoint his readers at this point, cuz he manages to fit all loose ends nicely together.

But overshadowing all these plots are the spirit of southern France (for example you can almost grasp the taste of french wines and food - hmmm...yummy) and the omnipresent fascination of Marseille: A city where "the exciled of the world are meeting" and in which the only achievement that counts is to survive. And that's the final resume also for Fabio Montale as he is just glad to survive all this mess along with a few friends who were simply luckier than many other peoples encountered...

Two thumbs up for Jean-Claude Izzo, who himself died way too early, for this melancholic and exciting novel.

With Servant of the Empire fantasy author Janny Wurts successfully continues her magnificent Kelewan series. Lady Mara of the Acoma not only has succeeded to strengthen her terribly weakened house, but also has managed to strike a severe blow to the House of Minwanabi, her blood-sworn arch-enemies. But the forthcoming events don't give much room to relax, as her enemies rally under a much more deadly leader and occurrences of a much wider scale threaten to upset the very foundations of Tsurani society. But again Mara finds yet another unexpected source of help.

Enter Kevin, a captive from Midkemia, the world beyond the Rift. A battle-proven veteran, smart, witty and not willing to accept his place as a will-less slave in a society that is solidified in its own rigid traditions and castes. He wins the heart of Mara (admittedly not that unexpected, but that's okay) and earns the legitimate respect of Mara's most trusted intimates and officers. But most important, he lends Mara new insights to her own society, one of these being an awakened awareness that it's the deeds that define a man's worth and not his social standing.

One may argue now, that constellations like a slave winning his mistress' (or her master's) heart while changing her (his) view to things around her (him) are nothing new, but the way Janny Wurts exploits this setup for the trilogy's overall development is brilliant. One reason is, that in contrary to the first book, where Mara was the absolute main protagonist, she now has to share sympathies with Kevin. The recurring changes between both characters' viewpoints paint a whole new picture of the world of Kelewan.

Additionally Janny Wurts once again delves deep into the fascinations of a complex political and social structure with intricate plots, ambitious rulers and a deadliness that can plunge a mighty House into utter destruction just within a good day's scheming. And of course for all fans of Feist's Midkemia saga, the events involving Mara and Kevin are perfectly woven into the plot preset by Feist.

As a summary, Servant of the Empire is a great fantasy novel, which manages to grab the readers attention for many hours but still has enough room to spin a complex tale with love for detail and many surprising twists.

Daughter of the Empire is the first book of a fantasy trilogy that I count among the best I've ever read. Janny Wurts leads us to the world of Kelewan, which R.E. Feist had introduced in his much-lauded Riftwar saga as the counter world to Midkemia beyond the Rift. Wurts spins a mesmerising tale around young lady Mara of the Acoma who must stand up to the unwanted and unexpected task of preserving her noble house and her ancient bloodline against foes who are seeking nothing but obliteration of Mara's family. We accompany Mara as she struggles through her first steps to learn the Game of Council, how the political strife for domination among the houses on Kelewan is called. We suffer with her when political reasoning forces her to marry the unbridled and brutal son of one of her enemies and when she fights and plots to regain her hold over the Acoma. And we cheer for her when she repeatedly beats all odds against her - sometimes in the most unusual and unexpected manner.

But Janny Wurts novel isn't only a captivating tale of rise-to-power. It's also a masterful description of a fantasy society with an intruiging concept of rules and traditions, inhabited by fierce warriors and strange alien creatures amidst a setting with unique flora and fauna. Janny Wurts exploits all openings given to her by Feist to present new and fascinating aspects of the world of Kelewan which was just briefly outlined by Feist in his Riftwar saga.
Still this isn't everything to praise about this great series. To compliment a wonderfully woven story with unexpected twists and turns in every new chapter Janny Wurts uses her adept grasp of language to let the emotions and motivations of both main and side characters become as vivid as the events unfolding around them. Janny Wurts masterfully manages to involve the reader with the tale and her characters - something I've always appraised in all of her works since I had read Daughter of the Empire for the first time.

When comparing Wurts' Empire trilogy with other contemporary fantasy series Martin's Song of Ice and Fire immediately cross my mind. Both are similarly complex, breathtaking and fast-paced. But where Martin is mainly focussing on the overall grandness of his epic work, Wurts keeps her plot quite manageable. And while Martin features a whole cast of main protagonists, Janny Wurts builds her story mainly around Mara, who is the dominant bearer of the readers affections - something that makes it easier to stay focussed in comparison to the multitude of viewpoints featured by Martin. I wouldn't judge any of these two great fantasy series better than the other. I love both of them and I think, that Janny Wurts has started a great fantasy trilogy with this book that can easily stand up to the top series of this genre.

I'm a big fan of Janny Wurts since her Empire trilogy and I swallowed the first novels of this series in rapid succession so far. The tale of Arithon and Lysaer and the Curse of the Mistwraith that has doomed the half-brothers to eternal enmity proceeds after an interlude of several years. During this time Arithon has spent years overseas in the search of the lost Paravians while Lysaer has once again increased his political machinations to consolidate his righteous crusade against his hated brother. The relative stagnation of the feud is interrupted when Morriel, leader of the Koriani witches, employs the full power of her magic order to finally bring down Arithon.

Wurts' major strengths that I appreciated so far are her ability to spin complex and intruiging plots containing elements of high fantasy, politics and passionate affairs of the heart. And a willingness to let her main protagonists suffer and her knack in exploiting these small tragedies to further raise the stakes in the story itself while enhancing the emotional attachment of the reader to the protagonists.

Alas Wurts has reached a level where she simply starts to wear out these talents. Her style of narration in Grand Conspiracy is full of heavy flowery phrases that it just gets annoying. She looses herself in the complexity of her plot, wanting to follow too many individual yet somehow linked story lines with the same intensity (i.e. chars like Jieret, Lirenda and other secondary protagonists). Also I think that she exaggerates in showing the falseness of Lysaer's crusade and the way he and his minions use various instruments (one being the same black art of spell casting that Lysaer is accusing Arithon of abusing) becomes rather stereotype. But the most annoying factor has become the level of whining and self-pity shown not only by Arithon, something we're used by now, but also a large scale of other characters (Elaira, Jieret, Fionn Areth and even to some degree the Fellowship Sorcerers). The biggest disappointment is Elaira, who still fails to win free from the hold of her Koriani sisters on her life and soul. Instead we get to see her once again exchange "heartbreaking" scenes of longing and dispair and of course lots of forgiveness between her and her lover Arithon. Where has the innovative passion gone from Ships of Merior when Elaira and Arithon discover their love during a combined magical effort to heal a fatally wounded civilian (a scene which will probably be among my all time favorite episodes in fantasy/sci-fi literature).

Of course Grand Conspiracy has still its strengths. Wurts' application of various types of magic and the descriptions of spell casting as a delicte art are first class. And the long awaited appearance of Davien the Betrayer occurrs with such a careful and elaborately carved introduction that I'm really eager for more of Davien in the next sequels.

But as a conclusion these few highlights aren't enough to make up for many disappointments in the overall progress of this otherwise great fantasy series.

Raiders of Gor is one of the best books of Norman's Gor series (right along with Magicians of Gor).

First of all it features all the expected ingredients of a Gor novel: A lot of bondage situations and non-consensual sex amidst the typical Gor-like setting with adamantine warriors dominating their submissive female slaves. Plus an elaborately carved fantasy world with unique flora, fauna and complex human (and non-human) societies.

But as a welcomed change, our hero Tarl Cabot doesn't wander through this world like the invincible and unaffectable symbol of virtue, law and order he had become in the first 5 books of this series. Instead we discover a darker side of our ideal warrior that Norman exploits to create an intelligent story of downfall and rise-back to power. For the first time I found myself really rooting for Tarl as he first succeeds in establishing himself as a competent swordsman in the anarchic pirate city of Port Kar, to finally become the savior of his newly chosen hometown, when he wards off a large-scale attack on Port Kar by rival seaports.

The only reason that kept me from giving Raiders even 5 stars was the usual exaggeration of Tarl's achievements, like defeating a small armada of war barges with just a longbow and a huge quiver of arrows. Or the flight with his warbird across miles of open sea through a severe thunderstorm. But those minor flaws aren't too crucial to spoil the fun, and whatever you can say of Norman's idiosyncratic and maybe sexist fantasy setting, Raiders of Gor is one exciting fantasy book featuring strife, passion and a fallen hero set to become a morally stained yet emotionally matured elite warrior in a wild and dangerous archaic world.

The superlatives used by the majority of reviewers almost can't describe the overwhelming excellence of George R.R. Martin's groundbreaking fantasy epic, which reaches yet another level of greatness with this third book of a fantasy series, which will be the ultimate measure for the next decade of novels of this genre.

After taking us into a world of intricate political machinations, breathtaking heroics, fatal betrayals, foredoomed affairs of the heart and blood, and an awakening magic about to return to a world at the eve of eternal chaos with the first two books of the 'Song of Ice and Fire' series, Martin manages to capture the readers attention once again. Additionally he succeeds in raising the suspense and the fascination for the stunned reader to yet another new level. The moment you start reading 'Storm of Swords' you won't be able take a break from reading this astonishing masterpiece of contemporary fantasy literature.

So, what's it about?

After the Lannisters have fend off the assault on King's Landing by Stannis Baratheon, their ascent to undisputed dominance over Westeros appears to be only threatened by young Robb Stark, King of the North. The Baratheon line has been decimated to the last stronghold of Lord Stannis, the Starks are under pressure from an unexpected foe threatening their heart lands, and the remaining political and military powers seem to flock together under the banners of juvenile, but cruel and ungoverned King Joffrey Lannister. But the Lannister's reign is shadowed by the unpredictable fate of the brothers Jaime - still under captivity by Catelyn Stark, and Tyrion - severly wounded since the fight at King's Landing. While Tywin Lannister tries to secure his grandson's hold to the Iron Throne, mysterious powers beyond the frontiers of Westeros are steadily growing, threatening the balance of life itself on the lands devastated by war, famine and anarchy. In the far north, Jon Snow struggles to uncover the secrets of the wildling hordes while attempting to preserve his very integrity as a Black Brother. And on the other side of the world, Princess Danaerys has yet to master challenges of warfare and treachery to lay the final claim to her rightful seat on the Iron Throne.

What makes this book so extraordinary is far more than just a complicated and thrilling pattern of medieval strife and heroic exploits. Martin uses down to the bone honesty to describe human ambitions and passions. He reminds us that the line between benefactors and criminals is never pin sharp. And success and failure stand only as separated from each other as chance and circumstance permit. His plot is witty and never predictable, the dialogues used are charming, sharp and spirited, and rarely I have seen such a huge cast of carefully outlined characters. It's been a long time (in fact since Donaldson's Gap series) since I have experienced so many different feelings for the main protagonists, ranging from cheers to hatred and from sorrow to utmost astonishment and joy - and more than once I had to discover, that my personal feelings concerning a specific character had undergone a 180-degree turn from rooting to booing (or vice versa).

Admittedly Martin is no easy-going read. His style of narration and writing competes with the likes of Iain Banks and Umberto Eco, his tales are full of symbolism and hidden meanings and the plot is so thick and rich of surprises and backyard information, it can be really tough to keep all details in mind. But whatever it takes to follow Martin's ambitious writing: It's worth every piece of paper and minute spent reading. Cuz the way Martin gets the reader involved in his story is simply outstanding and when you finally reach the final pages of 'Storm of Swords', there are only 2 things left to say: First 'Wow!' and second 'When will Book 4, 'A Feast for Crows' finally be available...'

When I read the first book of Eddings' Tamuli trilogy ('Domes of Fire') several years ago, I was disappointed because Eddings just tried to repeat his success of the previous Elenium trilogy by featuring the same cast of characters and mixing them up with an all too familiar threat from evil foes, who'd just be there to offer Prince Sparhawk's crew of Pandion Knights some sparring partner for their, admittedly amusing, undertakings.
Now, some years later, I picked up 'The Shining Ones', because I had felt it was time to give Eddings a new chance. Oh, boy, how wrong I was.
The Shining Ones is just another string of Pandion Knights antics who stroll across the land pretending to fight for right and justice. Justice? Heck, Eddings' heroic knights are in fact nothing but a bunch of self-righteous, arrogant and brutal bullies, who order the murder of hundreds of humans just because they happened to work for the wrong side (not knowing how ill advised they've been when they chose that side) and whose biggest concern appears to be making the most wittiest comments. Sorry, I rather live without such a band of 'heroes'.
But not enough, the plot itself is horrible. The so-called enemies are plainly brushed aside like leaves in the autumn wind by Eddings' oh-so-kewl Prince Sparhawk and his omnipotent jewel Bhellion. The major informations necessary to understand the evil side's schemes are revealed by a mind-reading witch, thus successfully killing all suspense for the reader. And the name-giving Shining Ones, who are carefully built up in the first half of the book as an unpredictable force to be reckoned with, just get assimilated into the ever growing bunch of flawless heroes assembled around Sparhawk, his perfect wife Queen Ehlana, and the plainly bothersome Child Goddess. Bleh.
So, how many times will Eddings write a tiring tale about a group of witty heroes set out to rescue the world from some evil forces who are doomed to get wiped away by the protagonists who never err nor fail? I hope not many more: The Police Academy movie series also stopped after the sixth sequel....