Midwinter by Matthew Sturges

Winter only comes once every hundred years to the land of the Fae, and it brings with it a secret vital to those in power. As snow storms blanket the land, the disgraced war-hero Mauritane and a few fellow inmates of a remote prison are given a chance for freedom and redemption. Survive a suicide mission commanded by the queen, and all will be forgiven.

In Matthew Sturges’s own words, Midwinter is “The Dirty Dozen with elves.” While that theme is well used across genres, it’s one of my favorites because when it’s done right it makes for great story-telling. So, I really expected to like this novel.

Midwinter started out strong. Immediately following the prologue, there’s an awesome prison fight. But from that point on, the rest of the story was like being in a thick fog. Deta... Read More

Midwinter by Matthew Sturges

I was attracted to Midwinter because of the gorgeous cover art (by Chris McGrath) and the publisher's blurb. This sounds like my kind of story. Unfortunately, this novel didn't deliver what I was looking for, but it had so much potential that I hold out hope for future efforts from Matthew Sturges.

Midwinter starts out well. The prose is pleasant — perfectly readable and without any pretensions. Usually this is the first place an author will lose me, but Mr. Sturges didn't.

The main characters, especially Mauritane, Silverdun, Satterly, and Raieve, are intriguing and I was fully expecting to be drawn into their lives. However, I never was. Part of the problem was the third-person point of view that shifted unexpectedly. It never set... Read More

Midwinter by Matthew Sturges

I checked out Midwinter, the debut novel of comic book writer Matthew Sturges, despite the lukewarm feelings of my fellow reviewers. I am, however, a sucker for stories in which small groups of skilled swordsmen or thieves brave nigh-impossible odds. As noted, this particular story is set in the parallel world of Faerie and centers on the efforts of secretly paroled prisoners, led by the ultra-competent Mauritane, to recover something as quickly as possible for Queen Titania during the rare season of Midwinter.

For better or worse, I largely agree with Kat and Greg's assessment of the book. Some particular notes:

Despite it being Midwinter, and despite ongoing references to the relatively cold weather, it was possible to forget that the cold mattered. Certainly, the characters never seemed hindered by it, and their travels actually take them through warm badlan... Read More

Masked edited by Lou Anders

Superheroes — and supervillains — have always been problematic. They are usually all but impossible to kill, but have a single vulnerability that everyone seems to know about, and to aim for, a tradition that goes all the way back to Achilles (who was invulnerable because he was dipped in the River Styx as a baby — except for the ankle by which his mother held him when doing the dipping). Even after death, they always seem to come back in some form or another; Superman, for instance, has been resurrected quite a few times (though losing him led nearly 20 years ago to one of the best graphic novels ever written, World Without a Superman). Because they are so superhumanly strong, they sometimes appear ludicrous, fighting off impossible task after incredible burden after outrageous situation. No wonder authors have sometimes taken their creations in odd directions, as Read More