Robin Lythgoe

Enchantress Hiresha's intelligent fantasy/mystery story continues in the wonderful follow-up to "Brood of Bones." Marling's prose beautifully captures the flavor of the desert, creating richly painted scenes. The plot is full of expertly crafted twists and turns, and the characters are brought to you in vibrant technicolor. I loved seeing Hiresha thwarted, regrouping, stepping outside the bounds of what she knows, and growing as she does. She's not just a focused 'scientist,' she's whimsical, at times callous, and she has a habit of putting her foot in her mouth. Her new bodyguard, Chandur, strikes me as a good-hearted, wonderfully loyal and idealistic but frustratingly dense individual, but he too grows through his experiences, making for a more solid, engaging character. The doings of the Soultrapper antagonist are devious and woven expertly into the tapestry with threads of creepiness and dark humor. Well done! I would have liked Tethiel to figure a little more prominently; I missed his biting wit and dry humor, and the knife-edge relationship with Hiresha developed in "Brood of Bones" only received token attention after his reintroduction. "Fox's Bride" flows well, keeps a quick pace, and ends on a strong note. Again, I am looking forward to Marling's next book.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Emperor’s Edge, and the fun continues in Dark Currents. Buroker has developed a good, solid framework of society that isn’t thrown off kilter with the inclusion of magic—a magic that is referred to in Amaranthe’s world as “science.” Her writing style is smooth and engaging, neatly balancing narrative and dialogue. The characters continue to capture the reader’s interest. What’s more, they develop even further—no cardboard cutouts here! They are each wonderfully detailed and clearly different from one another, and the fact that they are not all always comfortable and heroic makes them even more believable. When one of them goes out of his comfort zone in order to get something important accomplished, it *means* something.

The quality of writing style, grammar, punctuation, formatting, characterization, setting—all are top notch. The story is a quick read, not too long and it’s fast-paced. There are some wonderfully quirky twists and surprises, though the antagonists remained slightly distant and nebulous. If I have one complaint it’s about the gratuitous crass innuendoes. They felt like a forced afterthought and could honestly (and beneficially) have been left out altogether. Otherwise, the humor and the usual exchange of barbs had me laughing out loud in places. Buroker has a knack for telling a good tale.

What a fun romp--I love the hare-brained schemes and the irreverent humor. The characters are really engaging. Of course Sicarius, with his sense of distance and mystery, begs following just to catch another glimpse of what lies beneath that unreadable façade, but I also found Books and Akstyr intriguing. The first for his wit and his intelligence as well as loyalty to Amaranthe, and the latter for his quirkiness and the hint of hidden depths. Maldynado, I suspect, hangs around out of curiosity: the adventures he gets into with the Edge are a lark, and how can Amaranthe not be attracted to him? Amaranthe herself is a funny contradiction of terms, alternately determined, fearing to fail, failing, and delighted at turning tables. And Sespian, dear Sespian, might have escaped the first pot he was set to brew in, but he's still in the clutches of adolescent hormones and idealism. Even Hollowcrest fascinated me. I would love to know more of what he was thinking and what influenced his choices.

The "steampunk" setting is delivered with a light hand (which is good, because I would not like to be run over by thundering locomotives). I enjoyed the contrasts between the classes and genders. While I have seen comments that the gender discrimination is excessive, I feel that it fits not only the story itself, but our own historic (and even current) patterns. Standards of our own society now are not global and they are certainly distinct from most of history.

The plot was a wonderful roller-coaster ride of ups and downs, and I am very much looking forward to reading more of the adventure!

Newcomer A. E. Marling does a bang-up job with this novel about a magic-wielder afflicted with a sleeping disorder. Her drowsiness does not equate boredom for the reader. On the contrary, "Brood of Bones" is a fantasy whodunnit, with Enchantress Hiresha cast in the role of arcane detective. The setting and the magic are skillfully portrayed; the characters are complex and not always predictable. Hiresha struggles not only with her sleeping problem, but with the past that has formed her; her position is her armor and her purpose. Maid Janny is a gem of irreverence, while the Lord of the Feasts is both charming and terrible. The deposed arbiter of the city is exasperating at the same time she is delightful, and the two city leaders (a pair of priests representing different deities) are not what they might seem. I could wish the bodyguard were better developed, but it is a small complaint. The story is told from Hiresha's point of view, depicting her insecurities and fears in a very personal, very *human* way embroidered with the mores of her particular society. This is a really excellent debut novel.

I found "Blood Song" to be a gripping coming-of-age tale with better-than-fair character and setting development. I enjoyed the single-point-of-view persepctive and the pacing is good — except for a few places when the timeline changed suddenly and without warning, or the actions and attitudes of the players didn't seem to match their ages or time spent at the school. Also, while I didn't feel the protagonist, Vaelin Al Sorna, did anything *out* of character, the meat of his motives was sometimes missing. I wanted to know more about how he felt and how he came to be such a devout and moral person. I liked that he often made the hard choices, and that he didn't whine about it. Sometimes didn't even tell others about them!

I enjoyed Ryan's language skills and he can paint a very nice scene, though I could easily have lived without the crass language. Even so, the few appearances seemed natural rather than used (or over-used) for shock value. The political landscape intrigued me, as did the virtual landscape. With the Orders being numbered rather than named, their purposes (aside from the Sixth, which is "main character" material), were tricky to keep track of. On another note, there were some kind of funny typos (like "three men under your yolk") and very minor puncutation issues.

In the end, it kept me turning the pages and suffering an unwillingness to put it down until I was done. I am glad I read it, it's a very impressive beginning to the series and I'm looking forward to reading more.