Lamentation by Ken Scholes

Lamentation is a promising start to a new fantasy (or at least semi-fantasy) series, which is a bit ironic as its own start is a bit bumpy. The story begins with a bang — literally. We're witness to the utter destruction of an entire city — screams, flames, toppling buildings, searing winds, etc. Many novels would end with the scene, but Ken Scholes chooses to make it the starting point of the plot, an original beginning which I liked a lot.

Unfortunately, Scholes seemed to like it a lot as well and so he gave us the same basic scene — the city's destruction — from one viewpoint, then another, then another, then another. Not the details themselves, but the immediate aftermath. At first, I thought it a nice touch — a relatively innovative way to introduce more than a single main character. But the repetition grew a bit annoying. Even worse were the overly-qu... Read More

Canticle by Ken Scholes

PLOT SUMMARY: It is several months after the events of Lamentation. At the Keeper’s Gate, which guards the Named Lands from the Churning Wastes, a strange mechanical figure appears, with a message for Petronus, the Hidden Pope.
Petronus though has retired back to his old fishing village after having dissolved the Androfrancine Order and is now trying to decipher the Rufello cipher that are the events surrounding the Desolation of Windwir.

Vlad Li Tam, who has fled into the Scattered Isles with his entire family — all save Jin Li Tam — is also trying to solve this Whymer Maze and seeks the source of the threat that frightened the Androfrancines so much that they were willing to bring back Xhum Y’Zir’s Seven Cacophonic Deaths. Meanwhile, many noble allies have come to the Ninefold Forest for a feast in honor of General Rudolfo’s first... Read More

Canticle by Ken Scholes

Canticle, the follow-up to Ken Scholes’ Lamentation, shares some of the same flaws and strengths as the first novel, including a rough start, but like its predecessor overcomes its flaws to turn into an engrossing, if not action-packed, novel.

Canticle picks up a few months after the events of Lamentation. It’s Scholes’ concerted effort to recap those events that makes the opening somewhat flawed, as much of the exposition feels forced and awkwardly inserted. I think he would have been better served with a simple prologue recap, rather than filtering the events through the conveniently-placed reminiscences of his characters. Luckily, the clumsiness only lasts for a few dozen pages before Scholes deems us sufficiently caught up and lets us move into the new plot.

And t... Read More

Antiphon by Ken Scholes

PLOT SUMMARY: The ancient past is not dead. The hand of the Wizard Kings still reaches out to challenge the Androfrancine Order, to control the magick and technology that they sought to understand and claim for their own.

Nebios, the boy who watched the destruction of the city of Windwir, now runs the vast deserts of the world, far from his beloved Marsh Queen. He is being hunted by strange women warriors, while his dreams are invaded by warnings from his dead father.

Jin Li Tam, queen of the Ninefold Forest, guards her son as best she can against both murderous threats, and the usurper queen and her evangelists. They bring a message: Jakob is the child of promise of their Gospel, and the Crimson Empress is on her way.

And in hidden places, the remnants of the Androfrancine order formulate their response to the song pouring out of a silver crescent that was found in the wastes.... Read More

Antiphon by Ken Scholes

Antiphon is the third book in Ken Scholes’ The Psalms of Isaak series, following Lamentation and Canticle, both of which I rated strongly despite a few relatively minor flaws. Antiphon continues in the same quality vein and, as with the others, leaves the reader wanting more by the end (and there is more to come; two more to be precise).

We return to the same characters we’ve been spending most of our time with. Rudolfo, the gypsy king, is under siege both from without and within and the character who has always known the “right path” begins to start doubting his choices as his kingdom (The Ninefold Forest) starts to unravel around him. His wife, Jin Li Tam, seeks strange and unexpected safety in the Marsher’s land, under the zealously religious protection of Ria, who usurped th... Read More

Here's another installment of FanLit Asks. Instead of asking one author several questions, we’ve asked several authors just one question. Please leave a comment or suggest a question for us to ask in the future. We’ll choose one commenter to win a copy of Jack Vance's The Eyes of the Overworld(one of my favorites!) on audio CDs (or, if you've got bad taste, something else from our stacks).

Question: Which speculative fiction writer has had the greatest influence on your own writing style and what, specifically, do you find most inspirational about that writer’s style?

Alex Bell: Definitely Terry Pratchett. His Discworld novels got me... Read More

Some of your favorite authors take some time to answer our questions:
Got any news to share?
Steven R. Boyett: I'm excited that I will be reading at the opening weekend of San Francisco's massive Litquake festival, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2-3 PM. I usually record these things, so it will be on the media page of my blog soon afterward. In my mortal guise I'm also a semi-famous DJ, and I'm also hugely stoked that I'll be DJing the Litquake/Litcrawl closing party at  Read More

Some of your favorite authors take some time to answer our questions:


Got any news to share?
 
Stephen Deas: The Black Mausoleum came out in August and The King's Assassin will hit the shelves in a couple of days.

Bradley Beaulieu: I'm headed to the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto, Canada at the end of this month. I'll be doing a reading there, and there's also the mass autograph signing, so if anyone happens to be there, please stop by and say hello. I'd love to see you.



Laura Bickle: My first YA novel, The Hallowed Ones, was r... Read More

Some of your favorite authors take some time to answer our questions:
Got any news to share?
Ken Scholes: I do... I recently turned in Requiem, volume 4 of the PSALMS OF ISAAK, and it will be out from Tor Books in June 2013.  And I've just recently taken the plunge to become a full time writer.

Pati Nagle: This summer my first mystery novel was published! Written under the pen name Patrice Greenwood, it's set in a tearoom in Santa Fe so it combines two of my great loves, tea and New Mexico. A Fatal Twist Of Lemon is available in print and as an ebook from Evennight Books and Book V... Read More