Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts

Monday, July 16, 2012

Max Frei Returns with The Stranger's Magic

This week Russian literary sensation Max Frei returns to the United States with the third installment in the internationally bestselling Labyrinths of Echo fantasy series, The Stranger's Magic

First published in Russia more than fifteen years ago, Frei's Labyrinths of Echo series has since become a bestselling international phenomena, infusing highly philosophical comic fantasy with extraordinary wit. Plunging back into the enchanted parallel world of Echo originally portrayed in The Stranger and The Stranger's Woes, twenty-something eponymous anti-hero and self-described loser "Sir Max" returns in The Stranger's Magic, the smash hit series that has sold more than two million copies across the globe.


An unlikely protagonist, Max Frei is a social outcast,a  gluttonous loafer, and a hardened smoker who sleeps away his days until he finds himself transplanted to a magical world where he possesses powerful supernatural abilities. As a "Nocturnal Representative of the Most Venerable Head of the Minor Secret Investigative Force of the City of Echo," Sir Max investigates cases more complicated, extravagant, and dangerous than ever in The Stranger's Magicas he battles illegal magic and combats trespassing monsters from alternate realities. Joined by a returning cast of crime fighting companions including the omniscient Sir Juffin Hully, the uproarious Sir Manga Melifaro, and the beautiful Lady Melamori Blimm, Sir Max and his friends tackle extraordinary capers including palace coups, attempted murders, and bungled burglaries.


Appropriate for first time visitors to Echo and diehard fans alike, The Stranger's Magic blends a complex web of clues with a cast of unforgettable characters, offering an unequaled fantasy epic for a new century.



Advance Praise for THE STRANGER’S MAGIC:

“Unpredictable, mysterious, and full of surprises … readers will be entranced by the complex world.” – Publishers Weekly

“There are moments that might have come from the pages of Douglas Adams, others that wouldn’t be out of place in Alice in Wonderland … literate, silly fun.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Quirky humor, hair-raising adventures.” – Booklist (Starred Review)

Praise for Max Frei and THE LABYRINTHS OF ECHO series:

“Fans of Jasper Fforde and Susanna Clarke will happily jump into Frei’s world.” – USA Today

“Impossible to put down … wildly imaginative and entertaining.” – Fantasy Book Critic

“[Frei] is smart, savvy, and funny; an everyman hero we can all believe in.”
Bookslut


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

PW and Library Journal praise R. Scott Bakker's THE WHITE-LUCK WARRIOR!


This week, the second book of R. Scott Bakker's Aspect-Emperor series, THE WHITE-LUCK WARRIOR, hits shelves nationwide. Thanks to Publishers Weekly and Library Journal for these sneak peeks!

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The White-Luck Warrior
R. Scott Bakker. Overlook, $25.95 (608p)
ISBN 978-1-59020-464-1

Even fans of 2009's The Judging Eye who haven't reread it recently may be confused by the dense and complex infodump that opens this ponderous sequel. Those who persevere will be richly rewarded as the plot and characters are slowly refined. Mimara, stepdaughter of the Aspect-Emperor, outgrows revenge in favor of love; Achamian, former friend of (and cuckolded by) the emperor, undertakes a dangerous quest for truth; Cleric is a nonman whose drive to feel and remember twists attachment into terrible forms; Sorweel must decide whether to believe in the Aspect-Emperor's quest or kill him for the gods. The reader cannot tell heroes from villains, and neither can the heroes and villains themselves; all are sympathetic and horrific at once. A cliffhanger ending builds suspense for the final volume.

LIBRARY JOURNAL
Bakker, R. Scott. The White Luck Warrior.
Overlook (The Aspect-Emperor, Bk. 2). c.608p.
ISBN 9781590204641. $25.95. FANTASY

Anasûrimbor Kelhus, the Aspect-Emperor, leads the Great Ordeal, an army of troops and hostage-kings, into the unknown wastes of the Ancient North while at home his queen, Esmenet, struggles with internal strife. An expedition to the ruins of Sauglish, in search of a lost city, brings Esmenet’s daughter, Mimara, into possession of The Judging Eye, which allows her to see the good or evil in a person. Finally, the White Luck Warrior appears, a figure who is assassin as well as savior. The second volume in Bakker’s series (The Judging Eye) brings more complications to an already complex tale of ambition, prophecy, love, and betrayal. VERDICT The author of “The Prince of Nothing” series (The Darkness That Comes Before; The Warrior-Prophet; The Thousandfold Thought) understands the art of crafting fantasy epics spiced with exotic trappings and should attract fans of epic fantasy.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Newsday on THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD: "Weeding and Writing"

We loved the headline of this recent review of THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD in Newsday, especially with back-to-school fever sweeping the nation, although it's something of a typing-tongue twister ("weeding and writing"--we had to triple-check the spelling!).

Here's the full review, but here are a few of our favorite parts, below.

Every man, woman, child - not to mention dog and plant - owes its life to Jack Durkin. Had he and nine generations of Durkins before him not been weeding a field in a small New England town from winter thaw to first frost, we'd all be goners. For these aren't weeds, but lethal, fanged killing machines that, if allowed to grow, would have us all for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

At least that's how Durkin, the title character of Dave Zeltserman's delicious horror-ish novel, "The Caretaker of Lorne Field," sees it. His family was contracted 300 years ago by desperate villagers convinced that these Godzillas in the grass would destroy the world if left unchecked. ....

Zeltserman is the author of increasingly accomplished crime novels, distinguished by spare and crisp prose, believable dialogue, imaginative plot twists and tightly wound characters who don't wear out their welcome.

He may be even more suited to the fantasy/horror genre than to a literary life of crime. Without slowing the action, Zeltserman wryly sprinkles in sub-themes about belief vs. logic, sacrifice vs. selfishness, and one generation against another. Perhaps the most interesting characters in the book are the older people who believe in Durkin and who, knowing how underpaid and unappreciated he is, treat him like a local hero rather than the fool on the hill.

Of course, this is literally a dying breed of citizenry. The question is whether we'll all be a dying breed of humanity if Durkin isn't allowed to keep weeding. Me, I'm not saying anything except, keep reading. Durkin may or may not be a loose caboose, but Zeltserman is fully in control.


Hope all of you fantasy/horror fans have already picked up your copy of Dave Zeltserman's latest! Here's the Winged Elephant's full coverage of Zeltserman.