The first review is for HUNTER AND FOX, the first in a new line by lovely and talented Phillipa Ballantine. It is listed as "A Shifted World novel" which fascinated me from the get-go. Pip is queen of creating a complex, imperfect world that is both like and totally unlike our own in so many specific ways... and then sucking you right on into that new world without your even realizing it. I love fantasy, I always have, but certain types of fantasy can be, well, dense sometimes. Pip is never dense. Her work in the Books of the Order (Spectyr, Geist and the forthcoming Wrayth and Harbinger) is exquisite, and this new beginning with Hunter and Fox is equally if not more complex and wondrous. Talyn is the Hunter of the title, a dark, cool-hearted assassin under the thumb of the ruthless tyrant, the immortal Caisah. She is not a drone, however much she is attached to the Caisah's will; she has her own thoughts and agendas hidden beneath the calculating mask of a killing machine. The world fears her as much as it fears the Caisah, though Talyn's true wishes are to find her way back to her roots, despite the fact that her people the Vaerli have pretty much been wiped out. Her brother, Byreniko, is on the run, also seeking a way back to the beginning of their people's troubles. Finn, a talespinner and the Fox of the title, is a rebellious, storytelling fool of a man whose heart is too big for his own good; he has a great love for the incredibly long-lived Talyn, despite her horrifying deeds and reputation. Throw in a Blood Witch called Pelanor whose duty it is to destroy Talyn, whisperings of rebellion against the Caisah from the lower tribes, and some chaotic primal forces at work the wilderness, and you've got the wild ride that is Hunter and Fox.
I don't want to give too much away; part of the excitement of Hunter and Fox is the tangled web of characters and stories that you find yourself flung into, and before you can help it, you're hurriedly trying to weave each strand together to form a fuller picture. There is always a twist, though, and Pip is masterful at delivering small discoveries along the way to tantalize a reader's tastebuds. I can't wait to see what happens in the next installment... because another thing she's excellent at is CLIFFHANGERS. I fall for it every single time. Ugh. I will also say this: I recently re-read some of my childhood favorites (The Immortals quartet by Tamora Pierce) and it made me feel as though Hunter and Fox is a similar kind of thing that Tamora Pierce might deliver for a more adult audience. That's not to say it's explicit in any way, but it's certainly a touch more advanced. But I loved Tamora Pierce as a kid, and it's amazing and deeply satisfying to find an author to feed me fantasy of a high caliber to match what I read as a child and go even further with adventure, magic, and mystery.
THE JANUS AFFAIR (A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel) is FINALLY AVAILABLE.
Maybe you didn't hear me the first time. The sequel to "Phoenix Rising" is now available in bookstores pretty much everywhere. If you haven't read Phoenix Rising, drop what you're doing, purchase and READ. Then immediately follow with The Janus Affair before you explode from anticipation. Because that's nearly what happened to me in the last year that I spent waiting for this damn sequel.
The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences is a top-notch, top-secret agency within Her Majesty Queen Victoria's government in London. A sort of steampunk X-Files if you will. Archivist Wellington Thornhill Books, Esq. and rowdy colonial field agent (now Junior Archivist) Eliza D. Braun are a match made in odd couple heaven. He prefers the quiet of the Ministry's Archives, she prefers exotic blends of dynamite. You get the picture. Currently restricted to the Archives, these two find themselves unwittingly in the midst of a Peculiar Occurrence when Eliza's suffragist friends start disappearing in a startlingly bizarre manner. Someone has a device which essentially teleports the victim out of the spot they are standing in to an unknown location, and these women are never heard from again. Despite the Ministry's strict orders to leave the case alone, Books and Braun plunge headfirst into a private investigation for various reasons of their own, one of which being that the agent assigned to the actual task is deemed incompetent by Eliza. Mischief and mayhem are indeed afoot as they enlist the help of Eliza's part-clockwork maid Alice, a ragtag group of street urchins known as the Ministry Seven, and a former lover of Miss Braun's, one Douglas Sheppard. Tensions are high and intrigue is heavy as things start to unravel for them... but this is a no-spoiler zone, and let me just tell you that the reveals are absolutely worth it when you get to them in the book.
Authors Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris are absolutely hands down two of the cleverest authors I know. Phoenix Rising was a fantastic jaunt into a steampunk world with wit and intrigue. The Janus Affair not only meets that standard but triples it. I felt my jaw drop open so hard several times that it popped audibly. I was white-knuckled gripping the pages. I was up till three in the morning to finish because I needed to know what HAPPENED. And the authors do not disappoint. I am positively drunk with excitement for the third installment, and utterly gobsmacked that I am partly involved in the development of the Ministry's world; I will be contributing to Volume Two of their podcast/ebook anthology "Tales from the Archives" and I can't believe it's true. Tee and Pip are heartily my heroes, and I recommend this book to everyone all the time. It has everything. EVERYTHING. And it gets better and better with each page turn.
I need to stop getting addicted to books by authors that like suspense. These cliffhangers and teasers of what's to come are just killing me.
Stay tuned for more fun later. ;)
-A
