Heroes Die, by Matthew Woodring Stover [5]

*****/***** (5/5)

A lot of readers nowadays will eat up Harry Potter but won't touch the fantasy genre otherwise, harboring a healthy aversion to "elves, dwarves, dragons." It's an unfortunate stigma because there's a lot of books in science fiction and fantasy (SFF) written for adults and contains content and themes suitable for adults. That is, SFF books adults can enjoy and don't have to be ashamed of reading. Matthew Woodring Stover authors SFF a lot of us can enjoy. Deliciously arrogant about his views and books, author Matt Stover espouses mature content and themes. Not to mention damn fun reading.

Thankfully, Matt's Caine books are standalone novels, and you don't have to read a host of books just for the sake of continuing the overall story arc. Chronologically, HEROES DIE comes first, BLADE OF TYSHALLE second, but they're independent stories and only familiar characters connects the two. The Star Wars franchise took notice of Matt's writing and contracted him for several Star Wars novels after BLADE OF TYSHALLE (REVENGE OF THE SITH novelization, for example). He's finally returning to his Caine novels and I'm eagerly awaiting his next Caine novel slated for a mid-2008 release now.

Here's a brief review of HEROES DIE:

There's something really powerful and poignant about an old-fashioned struggle for love. At this book's core, we find the quintessential and ageless strife for love. Needless to say, HEROES DIE was a vastly immersing, engaging and enjoyable reading experience for me.

The science fiction/fantasy worlds of HEROES DIE manage to completely blur our idea of right and wrong & good and evil. At times, I find myself pitted against our protagonists, just beginning to understand the death and destruction they cause. At other times, I find myself behind his or her actions. No matter the reader's position or the storyline backdrop, you will always find yourself feeling something. As one of the mad characters mentions in the story, "Anything that is done out love takes place beyond good and evil..."

And trust me, there is never a dull moment. Stover packs every page with action and fervor. With a finale that had me shaking and unable to stop reading until I finished the book, I found myself riveted throughout.

Anti-hero Caine is an assassin in the gritty fantasy world of Overworld; Caine is notorious for killing many key figures in Overworld, kings and innocent commoners alike. Back on a futuristic Earth plagued by rigid social hierarchies dependent on affluence, Caine is Hari Michaelson. Actors such as Hari portal into the fantasy world of Overworld and incite death, destruction and chaos, all for the entertainment of the masses back on futuristic Earth. Overworld is real though, and not some virtual concoction so the people killed back on Overworld represent brutal finality. When the story begins, we're introduced to a bitter Hari estranged from his wife and wanting nothing more than to have her back. His wife Shanna plays the powerful sorceress Pallas Ril in Overworld.

I think the best way to describe Stover's writing: a fantasy romp. Gritty, realistic, and thoroughly entertaining. HEROES DIE contains graphic language and violence so use some discretion.

The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch [5]

*****/***** (5/5)

As I'll be returning to sff soon (continuing with romance at the same time as well), here's a review/reaction of a novel I read earlier this year and released last year...

Scott Lynch weaves a very entertaining tale of mischief, mayhem and chaos in this story about a cunning thief, Locke Lamora. The Gentlemen Bastards are a very unassuming and seemingly insignificant gang of orphaned thieves trained and raised by a sage priest, Chains. Locke Lamora leads this gang, but not by steel, not by strength, not by magic, but by his cunning, deceptive mind.

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA stands out for its cunning, witty dialogue, hysterical humor, deceptive legerdemains, and of course for the funny, yet gritty, characterization of Locke Lamora.

As Locke tells us at one point in the novel, "...there's no freedom quite like the freedom of being constantly underestimated." One of his cohort-brothers answers, "Gods, yes...If we were any freer we'd float away in the the sky and fly like birds."

Unfortunately, our unassuming, yet richest, gang of thieves receive some undesired attention when a mysterious Gray King arrives at Camorr (the city serving as the backdrop for the entire novel). Our crafty Locke and his Gentlemen Bastards' schemes and thievery go terribly, terribly awry as they face one complication after another. Locke - short and skinny - must exercise his wit to get him out of the complications that start piling up for his gang.

Scott Lynch's worldbuilding is very thorough, if not prodigiously overdone at times. His city of Camorr and outlying city-states comes alive vividly, from the feel to the looks, from the smells to the tastes, from the languages and accents to the trade and economy, from the political bureacracy to the entertainment.

I do have two complaints.

It took me two weeks to get through the first 200 pages, while two days to finish the last 300 in this hardcover edition. It wasn't until after Chapter 5, The Gray King chapter, that events seriously started spiraling out of control for our band of thieves. I was reading other books during the first 200 pages and I just lost interest in LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA during this time. But man, do things pick up after Chapter 5.

And secondly, the interludes really bring the momentum of the story to a screeching halt. Although they were mercifully shorter later in the novel, they were still jarring to me. The long interludes in the beginning of the book really, really slowed things down.

Otherwise, a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable reading experience, one I would unabashedly recommend to everyone...