Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Far Reaches Collection (Various Authors) by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Far Reaches Collection (Various Authors)

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C4TJRRRV?ref=cm_sw_em_r_ao_rw_y8NZEpV1821Ca 

The universe is bigger than we can imagine... 

Look outward beyond the stars with six stories from bestselling visionary authors. With a sweeping sense of wonder, these stories explore the galaxy...and the horizons of humanity’s potential. 

So there's a bunch of short stories published on Amazon in ebook and audiobook (no print editions available) collections in which the basic theme is what all the entries have in common, but none of the stories are actually connected in any other way. In other words, they can be read separately and in any order. I knew James S. A. Corey (a favorite author of mine) had a story in this particular collection and later found out Veronica Roth also did. This first collection I purchased, The Far Reaches, is filled with science fiction tales--right up my alley. I initially only bought the first two stories on Kindle. I didn't realize at the time that you could get a discount for purchasing the entire collection at once. (As a collection, it's $9.94; purchased separately $11.94.) I paid somewhere around $8.38 total for all the books, including tax. I think I got some stories on sale. Amazon Prime members can get them free, you know, somehow (I'm not a member anymore). I was looking for fast, solid reads, and I think I got what I was looking for with this one. They're actually published by Amazon, which I also didn't realize right away. I'm not thrilled with that idea, but I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the offerings. I was able to read each of them in a couple hours and at least some of them were intriguing, though, of course, several weren't my cup of tea. While I generally don't review stories I don't enjoy, I did in this case because most people will purchase the entire series, so it feels useful to me to give my opinion on all the entries, whether or not I liked them. 

Beware potential spoilers! 

 

"How It Unfolds" by James S. A. Corey (38 pages/53-minute read) 

Summary: In this short story by the author of The Expanse series, technology has been discovered in the future that allows human beings to be sent over space in a packet (much like ebooks!) to other planets already set up with what's needed to try to survive in that place. A tremendous amount of time and planning has gone into this endeavor. Once the packet is delivered where it's intended to go, the human "unfolds" (launches or materializes; is physically in this new place). This doesn't always work, but, as the packets are sent to innumerable worlds, it does occasionally; the success rate is a spectacular failure. One astronaut joins this mission with the hope that his ex-wife, also being sent across the universe in this way (a woman he loves and lost on Earth) will be able to reconcile with him in just one of these countless worlds. 

Review: This very enjoyable, clever little story is quite a feat in that, considering its compact size, it managed to be packed with everything crucial that's needed and nothing extraneous. The account of this love story searching for the right time and place to unfurl was tragically moving, beautiful, and unavoidably a little sad. 

 

"Void" by Veronica Roth (50 pages/70-minute read) 

Summary: Set aboard an intergalactic luxury cruiser that has the unfortunate name of Redundancy, Veronica Roth (Divergent series) tells a very short murder mystery story from the point of view of one of the crew members. 

Review: I was actually pleasantly surprised by this delightful little whodunit. The setting and characters captured me and made me want to know more about all. My only issue was, happily, minor: For the most part, only two dimensions were explored of the sleuthing main character Ace and only just barely enough of either. I wanted a better balance between the external and internal conflicts. The internal was definitely lacking. Brevity is, no doubt, the cause of this shortfall, but it was still an intriguing read, such as it was. 

 

"Falling Bodies" by Rebecca Roanhorse (35 pages/49-minute read) 

Summary: A juvenile delinquent is cleaned up, his appearance and identity changed, so he can be integrated back into the universe. But he's caught between two worlds in this futuristic story, and those worlds are playing a cruel tug-of-war with him. 

Review: I think the one thing everybody has too much of these days are politics. It's constantly being shoved in our faces with social media and the like, and we're being battered raw from it. This story is all about insane politics and "moral majorities". The author set up her character in a no-win situation and proceeded to make him as unlikable as she possibly could. The end result was what you'd expect, no surprise there. I guess I could have avoided the tragedy by not reading it. Too late for me. 

 

"The Long Game" by Ann Leckie (31 pages/43-minute read) 

Summary: In this futuristic story set on another planet, an octopus-like (or at least I got that impression) life-form that survives only a short time learns about life and death and how much of an impact he can make even if he has only a short space of time to do it in, something that can last long after he's gone.

Review: This short tale was both touching and inspiring. If only everyone could realize what good they can do for the present and future of our species just by putting a positive dream in motion catapulted by a little ingenuity and a lot of hard work. All lives are short but our legacies don't have to be. 

 

"Just Out of Jupiter's Reach" by Nnedi Okorafor (45 pages/63-minute read) 

Summary: In this story, the main character is one of only seven others on Earth able to connect with sentient "ship" beings that will explore the cosmos. Five years into the decade-long mission, the chosen seven end the total isolation with their individual ships in order to meet up with the others for a single week. 

Review: As much as I initially enjoyed the extravagant detail in this unusual tale, I couldn't help wondering 1) if there was a point to such fleshing out--i.e., how did it further the story purpose?, and 2) whether the author could have devoted the precious space to more important internal and external conflicts. Ultimately, I found myself disappointed by this story because of the overabundance of set-up aspects and so little to deeper main character development that would have made me not only like but also root for the main character Tornado. For example, very late in the story, we finally learn how she got her nickname. This shocking, tragic explanation from her past distanced me even further instead of drawing me in because all we'd learned thus far of this character was that she didn't like people, in general. and her own life and that of her ship were her sole focuses--a stunning reflection of today's me-focused society. Unfortunately, the potential in "Just Out of Jupiter's Reach" was greater than the actual result, in my opinion. 

 

"Slow Time Between the Stars" by John Scalzi (28 pages/39-minute read) 

Summary: An AI is set to explore to the farthest horizons of human potential and ensure humanity's legacy continues. In the process, it ponders its own purpose and responsibility to its creators. 

Review: I made the presumption that this story would have a plot…you know, in fiction, this is something that actually happens in the process of putting down words. A reader hopes something will happen in fiction, preferably something exciting; otherwise, why? But nothing really does happen in this story. The AI doesn't hate human beings so much as it simply has no love or respect for them. Nevertheless, it goes along with its programming though it's fully capable of changing it. I say it goes along with it up until it sees no reason to proceed with that (foolish) course. Centuries pass as it travels the cosmos. The last few pages tell us (instead of showing) the AI's plan to do the minimum duty to its creators and then it can do whatever it wants. And still, absolutely nothing worthwhile happens. The story ends after the AI informs the reader about what might have been the story if it'd actually been written. Warning: There's no Terminator, no A.I. Artificial Intelligence, no Blade Runner, no Ex Machina here. At this point, I would have been content with a full-on rip-off of something with an AI being trusted by humans or betraying the trust of humanity; just so long as there was a story--any story--actually being told. I guess the best I can say about this one is that at least it was the shortest in the collection. 

~*~

I suppose because I've been reading so many long series for the past year, each having at least three massive tomes, I've been feeling a strong need to find something short that takes me just a few hours to complete. This collection fit the bill if for no other reason than two out three ain't bad. I liked that these were cheap (under twelve bucks for six stories). If I'd purchased them in print, I would have paid probably two to three times more and inevitably been upset about the stories I didn't actually like. This seems like a good trade-off, though I sure hope I like all the installments in the next Amazon Originals collection. 

After I figured out Amazon has a whole slew of these usually genre-tied theme collections (visit https://www.amazon.com/b?node=17506527011&ref=AOS_footer), I purchased the entire collection of Forward (futuristic stories) at once, which I'll be reviewing next month. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website and blog here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Blood Hunt

Before the TV shows FOREVER KNIGHT, ANGEL, BLOOD TIES, and MOONLIGHT, before Tanya Huff's detective series on which BLOOD TIES was based, even a bit before P. N. Elrod's "Vampire Files" depression-era mystery novels, there was BLOOD HUNT (1987), by Lee Killough. It presents a fictional vampire who is a truly nice person, a type of characterization rare at the time. (There were already plenty of "good guy vampires," but few you'd consider exactly "nice.") Killough postulates that vampirism is an infectious disease caused by a virus, although in BLOOD HUNT that hypothesis is merely assumed by the vampires without being elaborated in any way. At least two factors don't seem to harmonize with the disease theory: The hero requires soil (not necessarily "native earth") to sleep on and can't enter a dwelling uninvited. In fact, he can't even fire his gun into a space where he hasn't been invited. As in most recent vampire fiction, conversion happens when the victim tastes the vampire's blood. Killough presents the gradual process of transformation from the vampire's point of view, another now familiar fictional device that was relatively uncommon at the time of this novel's publication. Garreth Mikaelian, a San Francisco police officer, investigates murders committed by a vampire, Lane Barber, who drains him to death. When he accidentally drinks some of her blood, she refrains from destroying him, because she longs for a companion. He rises as one of the undead and (like Elrod's protagonist in the later novel BLOODLIST) proceeds to investigate his own murder.

The core of BLOOD HUNT focuses on Garreth's gradual realization of and adjustment to the fact of his vampirism. He casts a reflection, in keeping with his supposedly non-supernatural nature. Sunlight causes him discomfort but does not kill him. He lives on animal blood, though it proves less than satisfying; highly ethical, he refuses to prey on people. Determined to bring Lane to justice, he traces her to her home town, where he makes a place for himself in the community -- working the night shift on the local police force (like Nick on FOREVER KNIGHT) -- while waiting for her to return. Vampire or not, Garreth remains a good cop, who adamantly resists the temptation to play vigilante. Even someone like Lane deserves due process of law. Circumstances finally free Garreth from the dilemma this philosophy imposes on him, and at the novel's end we see him as a small-town policeman who has come to terms with his new existence.

The strongest appeal of this novel, for me, is that Garreth's personality remains intact through his transformation. Again, that was still a refreshingly unusual approach in 1987. Instead of becoming a bloodthirsty demon, he stands in the far more interesting position of an ordinary man required to adjust to a new set of limits and temptations. In the sequel, BLOODLINKS (1988), Garreth is accustomed to his undead life but far from happy with it. Drawn back to San Francisco by a new string of mysterious murders, he meets the female vampire responsible for Lane's transformation and learns his friends and family can accept him even after they discover what he is. After a long hiatus, Killough published a third novel, BLOOD GAMES (2001), in which Garreth, fifteen years later, begins to face the aging of his mortal loved ones.

In the 1997 preface to BLOODWALK, an omnibus reprint of the first two books, Killough states that BLOOD HUNT was originally rejected over and over because, as a vampire novel that wasn't horror, it was therefore considered impossible to market. (Those editors must not have read Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA.) How the field of vampire fiction has changed in recent decades, for the better!

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the vampires at Carter's Crypt.

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Soldier Son Trilogy by Robin Hobb by Karen S. Wiesner

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Soldier Son Trilogy by Robin Hobb

by Karen S. Wiesner 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

 

Robin Hobb (who also writes as Megan Lindholm) is the author of The Realm of the Elderlings, which I've been reviewing here on the Alien Romances Blog. Soldier Son Trilogy is a separate, unrelated, fantasy series set in a fictional place called the Kingdom of Gernia. Resembling the 19th century American frontier, this post-colonial secondary world has several interesting historical counterpoints. In this series, Gernia is a strange combination (to someone like me, who doesn't care for war dramas) of civilized and war-like. Having lost to a vastly superior naval force, Gernia's military moves inland, conquering the natives called Plainsmen (natives) and Specks (powerful magic users who have all but been driven out of the frontier and now only exist in the Barrier Mountains). Racial and culture tensions are in full force, as it's only been a generation or two since Gernia conquered the indigenous tribes. 

In this world, Gernia has a distinct patriarch hierarchy. Sons of nobles inherit according to their ages. The eldest assumes the father's title, a second son serves as an army officer, while the third becomes a priest, and the fourth an artist. Daughters all fill submissive roles with arranged marriages that increase social standing. The main character in these books is Nevare Burvelle, the second son of a newly promoted Lord. 

The first book, Shaman's Crossing, was published in 2005. It's focused on a soldier son, Nevare's, education. Every aspect of Nevare's life in the opening has been on his future career as a soldier. Still a teenager, Nevare's father passes him into the hands of his greatest enemy for training. His logic in doing so is to teach Nevare "things he cannot learn from a friendly tutor". During this torturous tutelage that nearly kills him, Nevare experiences a vision in which he meets Tree Woman, a Speck. His trainer urges him to kill her but instead Nevare makes a pact with her and becomes a weapon of the magic to help halt Gernia's destruction of the forest. While this encounter was deeply profound, Nevare manages to escape and resumes his life, heading to the military academy to begin formal preparation in becoming a soldier. Near the end of the book, Dark Evening, an annual carnival, brings the first Specks to Old Thares. Tree Woman influences Nevare, compelling him to use the magic she instilled in him during his first vision. This results in a widespread plague overtaking the town and those at the academy. Caught between two worlds, Nevare attempts to sever his ties to Tree Woman, realizing this one who's become his lover in the fever dreams, has enchanted him to do her bidding. 

Book 2, Forest Mage, was published in 2006. It pretty much picks up where the previous left off. The academy is recovering from the Speck plague that killed so many. The students who've survived, for the most part, have been forced to leave the academy. What's happening to Nevare is unthinkable though. The plague has done the reverse with him than with all the others. Instead of leaving him weak and thin, he's become fat and is rapidly becoming fatter. While he left Shaman's Crossing believing he'd conquered the magic and destroyed it, the opposite is the case. He's now filled with the magic and he doesn't realize the visions he's been having are actually happening to him as he gives himself over to the magic. No one in the world he's always known believes he's anything but a big, fat pig who's now unworthy to be a soldier son. His father, especially, is monstrously cruel, dismissive, and ashamed of him, eventually all but disowning him. 

It was hard not to laugh about how ridiculous this plotline was. It was like reading Dreamcatcher by Stephen King, in which flatulence became a plot device. At first, I was laughing in shock, but the farting became so absurd, it was impossible to take the book seriously. (Apparently King wrote it while under the influence of Oxytocin and now no longer cares for the book at all. I don't blame him.) While it's sad when overweight individuals are unfairly ridiculed, as if there's nothing else to them but their size, this book was an apt portrayal of superficial judgments by superficial people. So much more was going on below the surface here. However, I felt Nevare's character was rapidly revealing itself to be wishy-washy. In Book 1, he seemed loyal to the beliefs he was raised with, not merely trying to gain his father's approval. Here, he's questioning everything yet going back and forth between his world views. Other people's bad behavior (his worthless father's, for instance) more often than not turn him into a rebel who acts out simply because he wants to hurt the person who hurt him. The magic compounds this in ways he could never have anticipated and quickly regrets. This installment concluded in a way that made it clear Nevare can no longer straddle two very different worlds, as he's been trying to since the magic took him. Sooner rather than later, he'll have to make a choice.

Renegade's Magic, released in 2007, concludes the trilogy. Navare is dealing with a disjointed, dual personality when his body is taken over by a Speck spirit intent on wiping the Gernians out of all thought and mind. Navare's consciousness remains intact within the body, horrified by what his body snatcher is doing through him, but he's occasionally able to dream-walk in order to talk to his cousin, sister, and father. Eventually he realizes that the war inside him is mirrored in the war outside between the Speck people and the Gernians. If some compromise isn't made, they'll destroy each other. Long story short, Nevare undermines the Gernians' goal to clear the forest in order to build the King's road by capturing royalty's greedy interest in a gold mine instead. I thought that was fairly clever as a wrap-up to a plot that didn't seem possible to end in a happily ever after. I also felt like it spoke to real-life history, in which war may be temporarily averted by selfish greed, but inevitably violence comes back around. 

Instead of reading this trilogy, I listened to the audiobooks. I'm not sure I would have found the trilogy compelling enough, even from the first book, had I not taken this route. The last, especially, was painfully long (768 pages in the mass market paperback; 29 1/2 hours for the audio). I started skipping chapters here and there, which allowed me to get the gist of the plot development without having to be bored with the author's excruciating "glacial pace" (Publisher's Weekly). Undoubtedly, the books are extremely well-written, despite being padded with every possible, boring indulgence on Hobb's part. While Navare was a well-rounded protagonist, as were most of the other characters, I didn't feel the same connections with the characters nor were they as captivating as the Elderlings cast. Also, much of Book 1's content is focused on Navare's King's Cavalla Academy education, where Old Lords and the King's New Lords engage in society-status rivalry, which held little intrigue for a reader not enamored with war stories or rich/snobbish people who consider themselves superior to all other humans for little or no reason. The "fat, magical Navare" plot was also hard to take seriously in Book 2 but made a bit more sense in Book 3. (Note: In this book, magic uses fat as a conduit, so the more blubber, the better.) While I felt like the native people versus usurper and their progress theme was a bit heavy-handed, I found the magic aspects interesting enough to put up with three bloated volumes in order to reach a satisfying conclusion. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Paladin's Grace

As Karen explained in her review of the Saint of Steel series several weeks ago, that deity suddenly and inexplicably died, leaving his paladins with a void in their souls. As berserkers, often possessed by the god in combat, they’re now at risk of being overcome by the “black tide” of battle madness with no divine force to channel it. Those who survived this catastrophe now live as best they can under the patronage of the White Rat God, whose domains are healing and law. The series takes place in the same world as the Clocktaur duology and SWORDHEART, and Zale, a legal advocate who plays a major role in the latter novel, also appears in PALADIN’S GRACE.

Paladin Stephen more or less accidentally rescues Grace, a gifted perfume-maker. They feel an instant mutual attraction, which both resist, Stephen because of the unpredictable battle madness and Grace because of experiences with the emotionally abusive husband from whom she fled. Incidentally, their respective motives for reluctance to get involved seem plausible to me. Anyway, what kind of romance plot would we have if the course of true love ran smoothly from the first meeting? Nevertheless, as readers would expect, their paths keep crossing. Grace receives a commission to create a perfume for a foreign prince, a job that gets her unwillingly entangled in the hazards of court politics. By the time she falls under suspicion of poisoning and witchcraft, she and Stephen are so deeply involved that he risks everything to save her. The Temple of the White Rat comes to their aid, as, in a more subtle and problematic way, does Grace’s landlady and best friend, who turns out to be a professional spy.

In addition to the devotees of the White Rat (of whom I can never get enough), these books include an entertaining nonhuman species, gnoles, three-foot-tall, badger-like humanoids who perform a variety of jobs. One of their common sayings, “Humans can’t smell,” encapsulates their perception that most humans are so oblivious we can hardly be blamed for our ignorance. The gnoles’ own language applies gender pronouns according to class rather than biological sex. In the human tongue, though, they hardly ever use pronouns or proper names at all (except when being unusually formal and precise). A gnole refers to itself in the third person as “a gnole,” other creatures as “a human,” “an ox,” etc.

The author’s afterword states that she wanted to write a fluffy fantasy romance in the world of SWORDHEART and the Clocktaur duology. By the time she finished, she realized fluffy romances don’t usually contain so many severed heads. Subsequent Saint of Steel books feature some of Stephen’s comrades in their own love stories. In PALADIN’S STRENGTH, the love interest is a bear-shapeshifter lay sister of the Order of St. Ursa on a mission to rescue a group of kidnapped werebear nuns. In PALADIN’S HOPE, it’s a lich-doctor, this society’s equivalent of a medical examiner, who has the secret ability to view the final moments of any dead person or animal he touches. The fourth novel in the series, PALADIN'S FAITH, foregrounds Grace's undercover-agent landlady, Marguerite. All these novels display Kingfisher’s irresistible wit and sparkling characterization.

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

Who Has Time For Webinars? (Anthropic-related)

Well, I make time... sometimes, because I am officious that way.

Here's a breakdown of what I inferred from the recent hour-long Authors Guild webinar with Rachel Geman and Michael Adamson, class counsel for the settlement.

Important contact information:

rgeman@lchb.com

madamson@susbmangodfry.com

anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com

Settlement details were finalized in September 2025, so no new works or authors will have been added since September. However, if you have not checked the anthropic settlement site since September, it might be worth another look to see if an additional work of yours was added.

The deadline for adding or revising claims is 30th March 2026.

If you need to revise a claim, use any of the receipt numbers (you may have been given several, even if for only one work) to quickly identify your claim.

Wrinkles:

If your publisher submits a claim, and you don't do so, in theory, the publisher ought to pay you a half share, but... how honest is your publisher? It is much better for you if you both submit a claim.

If you try to submit a claim, and the website bot tells you that a claim has already been submitted, it might be that your publisher, or co-author if you have one, has submitted a claim. You can contact Rachel or Michael. It is their pleasure, honor, privilege (and their job) to help you.

If you have not yet made a claim, it is best to make a claim (and not rely on a publisher, agent, or co-author to do so, and to give you your fair share). If you do nothing, you might get nothing.

If you have made a claim, keep a copy of your receipt.

The Atlantic site is not as reliable as the Anthropic site. For instance, some books may be on the former but not on the latter because the file, when opened, was unreadable. If an e-book file is illegible or corrupted, it cannot have been used by Anthropic (or any pirate reader).  Or, it might have been added after the date of the class action, which is Aug 5th, 2025.

Background:

The judge has not ruled that it is anything other than fair use for an AI company to use published works to train their whatevers. However, it is not "fair use" to use pirated works for that purpose, or any purpose.

Usually, a jury would decide on a lawsuit, but if there is a settlement, there will be no jury and no legal precedent set.

This case is only about pirated works, and the pirated works have to have been copyrighted before they were pirated (in 2025 or before). Some authors copyright their works before the works are published. Other authors rely on their publisher to copyright the works, and not all publishers did that in the past, regardless of the wording of their contracts with the authors. Other authors may have fallen through the copyright cracks through no fault of their own.

Money may start to be paid out in late 2026 or 2027, but payments could be delayed or reduced if there is an appeal by the settling parties.

Other concerns:

Some books are out of print, or the publisher is out of business. Perhaps you have a rights reversion letter.

If in doubt (or if a publisher who no longer has rights has put in a claim anyway) discuss this with class counsel.... see email addresses for Rachel and Michael above.

Some rights reversion contracts leave the author as the sole owner, other rights reversion contracts give the publisher rights that survive in the case of copyright infringement settlements, so, it is still worth checking your reversion letters.

In some cases, your publisher might assert a split that is less in your favor than 50/50. In some cases, you may never have given/sold/licensed your publisher any e-rights at all, in which case, you should definitely talk to class counsel.

If you are a prolific author, class counsel can help with your bulk claims. 

As with all lawsuit settlements, attorneys get paid first out of the pot, which is why you should not be shy about contacting the settlement lawyers. What is left in the pot, after lawyers' share, will be shared among the class members.

If your work was "work for hire", you have no claim.

Also...

There are other lawsuits. Look around for suits against Apple or Open AI. You might have equal or better luck with those.

There are also lawyers who are author chasing. Nice to be the literary equivalent of an ambulance, isn't it? This probably is only a dilemma for prolific bestsellers, but it is fun to ponder. Apparently those lawyers are importuning business and asking the author-whales to opt out of class actions and to go with them instead.

Finally...

If you take the money, this does not in any way mean that you agree with the judge or lose your rights to later participate in any other suit on the matter of copyright infringement or permissionless use of your works to train AI. You are only bound (and in a class action, you are bound by the terms whether you join in or not.... unless you opt out) with regard to Anthropic.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The World of the White Rat with Swordheart and The Clocktaur War by T. Kingfisher, Part 2 by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The World of the White Rat with Swordheart and The Clocktaur War by T. Kingfisher, Part 2

by Karen S. Wiesner 

Beware potential spoilers! 

Last week I reviewed T. Kingfisher's novel Swordheart, a medieval fantasy in The World of the White Rat (sometimes called The Temple of the White Rat). This umbrella series includes The Saint of Steel series, which I reviewed not long ago on the Alien Romances Blog, as well as Clocktaur War. This week I'll review the two books in the Clocktaur War.

I purchased ebook copies of the two Clocktaur War stories, steampunk fantasy romance novels. Yet again (sigh!), I think I read every part of this series out of order. On her website, the author suggests that the best order to read these interconnected books is the same as the publication order, namely:

Clocktaur War

Clockwork Boys, Book 1 (November 2017)

The Wonder Engine, Book 2 (July 2018)

Swordheart

Swordheart, Book 1 (November 2018)

Daggerbound, Book 2 (to be released in August 2026, and this one may actually take place later--after The Saint of Steel books; we'll have to see)

The Saint of Steel

Paladin's Grace, Book 1 (February 2020)

Paladin's Strength, Book 2 (February 2021)

Paladin's Hope, Book 3 (October 2021)

Paladin's Faith, Book 4 (December 2023)

In Swordheart, Jorge relates this to Halla and the advocate divine Zale from the Order of the White Rat: "It's been a mess. Since the Clockwork Boys got turned off, all the demons that were running the damn things jumped…well, you know. Five years and we're still cleaning up the mess." That puts something of a timeline on all this. I assume based on this that the Clocktaur War titles took place five years before Swordheart. It's not clear how long after Swordheart the Saint of Steel books take place, however, in my review of that series, specifically for Paladin's Hope, Galen talks about how he'd had some experience with "wonder" (mechanical and magical) doors and machines. At that time, I speculated about whether the two stories in the Clocktaur War told this story Galen references. The answer is, yes, in part at least. The mess with the Clockwork Boys being deactivated and demons taking over everything is the story told in Clocktaur War. However, Galen himself wasn't necessarily involved in the direct events taking place in the Clocktaur War books. His order, the paladins of the Saint of Steel, probably assisted The Dreaming God religious order paladins in "cleaning up" the demons that got loose in the Clocktaur War, but that particular tale is told offstage of any of the books in this world.

Clockwork Boys, Book 1, is little more than a (230-page) introduction to the actual story. Here, the plot of the Dowager of the capital realm wanting to figure out who's sending Clockwork Boys from a rival kingdom to wage war against her is set up. Clockwork Boys are unstoppable, centaur-like, living though mechanical soldiers that have four to six legs, are eight to ten feet tall and covered with gears. Her desperate, last-ditch attempt to put a stop this is to have a master forger and thief who's a descendent of a minor wonder worker (Slate, the only female in the band) assemble a team for a final suicide mission. The Dowager had previously sent two proper teams with military and artificers but none have returned alive, nor stopped the devastation. Already in place is assassin-for-hire (Brenner) who was Slate's lover a few years ago. The second one recruited (comprising the opening chapters of Clockwork Boys) is a disgraced and disillusioned paladin named Caliban, who's considered a traitor by his temple and been imprisoned because he became infected with the demon he was trying to exorcise for The Dreaming God. He ended up killing a lot of people during his possession. Learned Edmund, initially a misogynist, teenage dedicate for the Many-Faced God, rounds out the group when he volunteers to accompany them. He's made the study of arcane machinery his specialty.

While none of the criminals that encompass the group anticipate making it out of this situation alive, they have a very good reason for wanting to. Their motivation continues to develop as they begin to bond and Slate and Caliban complicate things by falling in love with each other. They've been promised pardons and generous rewards for their crimes if they succeed where others have failed. There are also consequences (in the form of a carnivorous tattoo that will eat them alive) if they try to bolt prematurely.

Getting to Anuket City is just the first hurdle, but naturally the war-torn cities and no-man's land between there and the capitol are being ravaged by Clockwork Boys and cause the band of criminals no end of trouble. They find a wonder-engine along the way--a device created by an ancient artificer (in this series, this amounts to a magical inventor) and this reaffirms that someone must have activated a wonder-engine to create the Clockwork Boys in such scores.

Both books in this duology are one story, but, as that would have made it a very large volume indeed (Book 2 has 360 pages), it was split in two, the first ending on a cliffhanger before the group arrives in Anuket City. If both books hadn't been available at the time I was reading them long years after their initial release, I would have been so annoyed. A cliffhanger shouldn't be a legitimate way to end any book in an overarching series if all the volumes aren't available to be read at the same time or nearly so. A month apart is forgivable, but not much more than that. In my mind, any significant gap between interconnected books is cruel and permissible grounds for abandoning the series, as I surely would have if I'd had to wait nearly a year to get my hands on Book 2 the way the readers of the first published edition of Clockwork Boys had to. Okay, so I wouldn't have abandoned the series. It's just too good. 

Within the first tale is where the group of misfits begins to learn about and tentatively trust one another, discovering individual secrets and conflicts, and becoming committed to each other as well as their cause. A gnole named Grimehug (who's been captured by a demon-possessed herd of runes) joins their company once they escape and he helps them. Anuket City has been pervaded by countless gnoles trying to rebuild their lives and culture beside humans who tolerate, basically ignore, but also oppress them. I love the complicated and colorful gnoles! What a cheerful addition to this medieval fantasy world.

In The Wonder Engine, Book 2, the story continues right where it left off in Book 1 with the band now inside Anuket City and on the lookout for Learned Edmund's counterpart there-- Brother Amandai, who's disappeared. The two had corresponded prior to that, and Learned Edmund's knows the scholar kept detailed notes about the wonder-engines he encountered. Learned Edmund has also secured the help of a master artificer, Ashes Magnus, who adds more comic relief and vigor to the story.

The romance, as usual for Kingfisher, was mostly annoying between Slate and Caliban because, like angsty teenagers, they just kept telling themselves they couldn't be together (I didn't find their reasons for refraining legitimate, let alone persuasive)…until they finally got it over with and just did it. Up until the end of the story, when the romance becomes more authentic and compelling, the basis for their relationship seemed to be built on Slate thinking Caliban was pretty and doable, while Caliban seemed to need to replace the god that abandoned him with someone to worship and follow. Slate wasn't the type of girl who expected poetry and roses, and she was uber-sensitive about being treated like a frail girly-girl. In her past relationship with Brenner, they both took what they wanted from each other--nothing more and nothing less. They understood how the game was played in that regard. In contrast, Caliban is a knight by profession, and he's something of a prude about sex because of his innate chivalry. T. Kingfisher is known for marvelous humor in her stories, both in the interactions between the story people and in the character dialogue and introspection. Instead of this silly angsting she falls back on like she doesn't really know any other way to develop a valid romance relationship, I wish she'd made the in-your-face sexual tension something that Slate and Caliban bantered about with each other and within their team until the bond grew between them honestly and cohesively. While the trope of a romance triangle is clichéd to death, I felt there was enough intrigue in this one, considering the late-developing curveball, to warrant and make it fresh. The events in the wrap-up chapters did manage to pull off a satisfactory romantic conclusion, which I was grateful for.

The steampunk "horror" in this fantasy novel was some of the best I've ever read in what I consider an otherwise hit-and-miss subgenre of science fiction incorporating industrial steam-powered technology. I really enjoyed every aspect of that and the tension as our merry band of broken villain-turned-heroes figure out how to take down terrifying magical siege machines. The group dynamics and all their built-in internal conflicts meshed wonderfully and were fully fleshed out. This is a solid strength evident in nearly every story I've read by this author. I also adore her medieval worlds, and this one has become a particular favorite. The twist at the end was well-worth even the eye-rolling angsting Slate and Caliban elicited from me for most of the two books.

Ultimately, I was pleasantly surprised by the story told in Clocktaur War. I was anticipating a kind of young adult weird steampunk thing I probably wouldn't enjoy. Instead I was treated to an adult (but still mostly a clean romance), high-stakes, fun, steampunk medieval fantasy with lawbreakers that stole my heart after I realized they were honorable, despite their crimes. The mix of well-developed characters that played off each other's strengths and weaknesses was flawless. Clocktaur War kind of reminded me of the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie, but I believe this one would make an even better film, if someone wisely chose to undertake it.

The author apparently spent a decade writing these two books, and, in her author's note, she said she intended to write Learned Edmund's adventures--with Slate and Caliban (and hopefully Grimehug) dropping in. We'll see what the future holds, but as it's been eight years since the publication of The Wonder Engine, she may be too far away from the series to feel capable of revisiting it.

~*~

As I said about The Saint of Steel series in a previous review, if you're looking for something unusual and unconventional in your reading, written as if the author actually lived in medieval times, these books that make up The World of the Rat umbrella series could be right up your alley, as they definitely are mine. Darn, now I wish I'd bought paperbacks of Clocktaur War instead of too-easily-lost ebooks.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website and blog here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog and her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Swordheart

For me, one outstanding feature of T. Kingfisher’s fiction consists of her protagonists’ irresistibly distinctive voices. Halla, heroine of SWORDHEART, is no exception, although this book (unlike the horror novels) is narrated in third person rather than first. A widow in her thirties, she has just inherited the estate of her husband’s great-uncle, for whom she has kept house since her husband’s death. Her great-uncle by marriage, although stingy and eccentric, was always kind to her in his way. The postmortem gift of his house and fortune, however, proves far from a boon. Her in-laws, outraged at the bequest, want her to marry her unappealing cousin-in-law, Alver. Locked in her room, Halla rationally analyzes the pros and cons of either accepting that fate or killing herself with the only lethal instrument available to her, an ancient sword hanging on the bedroom wall. I love the pragmatic way she struggles with the logistics of stabbing herself.

When she manages to wrest the weapon out of its scabbard, a man appears from thin air. Long ago, Sarkis was cursed to become one with the sword, taking flesh when it’s drawn and vanishing when its wielder sheaths it. The total healing that occurs in the latter status (including the regrowth of amputated appendages) makes him immortal, a “gift” that he considers part of the curse. He has no clear idea of how many centuries he has existed in this condition because he spends the time “inside” the sword in a sort of suspended animation, barely conscious. The spell obligates him to serve the weapon’s wielder, who retains ownership of it until he or she dies or voluntarily gives it away. Therefore, Halla finds she has acquired an unkillable bodyguard. After he breaks her out of her makeshift prison, they decide to travel to the big city and enlist the help of an order of priests -- the Temple of the White Rat -- specializing in legal problems, among other practical matters.

On the way, it soon becomes clear that Halla’s trusting nature would get her into serious trouble without Sarkis’s protection. At their destination, the order assigns an advocate, Zale, to return home with Halla and bring a lawsuit to reclaim her rightful inheritance. Zale, a character with an entertainingly dry wit and a relentlessly calm, logical attitude, presents as nonbinary. The text doesn’t make a point of this fact; Zale is simply referred to without comment as “they.” In one of my favorite scenes, they and Halla devise a series of experiments to find out whether everything detached from Sarkis’s body vanishes when he dematerializes into the sword. (It does; he agrees to the urine experiment but draws the line at such tests as having a fingertip removed.) Naturally they stumble into obstacles and dangers along the way; that's how quest stories / road trips are expected to unfold. During the adventurous journey, as the reader would guess, Halla and Sarkis progress from constant annoyance with each other through respect and friendship to romantic attraction. Sarkis considers himself unworthy of love, quite aside from his magical link with the sword, because of the circumstances that led to the curse. Incidentally, their first love scene is one of my favorites, in not only Kingfisher's works but romances in general. It's so delightfully *practical.* And I'm crazy about fictional couples who actually *talk* about -- and during -- sex.

Gradually we learn fragments of his past. When he reveals the full truth to Halla, she reacts to the revelation with believable distress. Their reconciliation doesn’t come without effort, while the ultimate showdown with her in-laws looms, its result not a foregone conclusion. The heroes' triumph doesn't feel easy to me, considering the kidnapping of Zale and Halla, along with the theft of the sword by a treacherous character who'd appeared friendly. Even when those crises are overcome, how can Halla and a warrior who’s also a sword, sort of, find happiness? The dialogue constantly sparkles, even in the midst of problems that seem insoluble. Every stage along their quest kept me enthralled. Although their troubles eventually reach a satisfactory resolution, the epilogue contains a teaser for a potential sequel. That book, DAGGERBOUND, is scheduled for August 2026.

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

Observation

Outside my window, snow is sifting down 

Like bakers' sugar, superfine, caster sugar

Turning bare trees to bleached coral

With dark drop shadow under-branches.

There's a knot hole in an ash, feet from my window,

The size of a breakfast grapefruit,

A chunky ruddy squirrel is nesting in there

Well, I do not intend to emulate the poet Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening."

For one obvious thing, my lines don't rhyme. If I spent time on it, I am sure I could rearrange

the lines and word pictures, and the result might be comforting, soothing and pleasant to read aloud

but I am more interested in observation, couched in some sibilance, alliteration.

I wonder what is about the same size as a grapefruit, but is both more evocative and rhymes with plenty of words. A boxing glove would be too big, too red, too suggestive of violence, and not worth using for the possibilities of "love", "dove", "above", "trove" (the latter is an eye-rhyme.)

Have you looked at bare ash and mulberry trees after snow? Coral is the right image, I think. Allegedly, there are 141 words that rhyme with coral. "Sorrel" and "quarrel" might have possibilities, but I wouldn't want to branch off into a discussion of my neighbors' possible lack of "moral" fiber for cutting down sources of winter shelter and food for wildlife.

The squirrel is probably a "grey" squirrel, but she is a dirty orange color, and her nesting material looks a lot like shredded phragmites (a bleached-ochre colored invasive species of reed-like grass). Red-wing blackbirds love to nest in it, by the way, as herons don't seem able to get through it.

There's nothing that rhymes with "phragmites", and if one called it "frag", only a lake and streams enthusiast would understand the allusion, although, a lot of words rhyme with "frag".

"Ruddy" means "reddish". In church today, our pastor perorated on the prophet Samuel seeking out David, eighth and youngest son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, for the purpose of anointing the next king to succeed Saul. David had to be fetched from the distant fields where he was a shepherd. He was described as "ruddy", and our pastor explained that this meant that David was healthy, athletic, and studly like a football player.

In fact, "ruddy" probably meant that David had a working man's tan from being out in the sun, the wind and the weather in the course of his shepherding responsibilities.

I've written before on the importance (in my opinion) of selecting the best word possible to communicate a thought or image. To do that, one needs an extraordinary vocabulary, the diligence to double check that the meaning of the word is --in today's parlance-- what you think it is.

One also needs to spend time being observant of the world around one, so one has the mental rolodex of images for all seasons, and maybe to keep a private collections of the best of them.

Although Shakespeare described nature as "red in tooth and claw", a lot of nature is peaceful and soothing if one takes the time to watch and listen attentively.... especially when it is snowing.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™ 

https://www.spacesnark.com/  

https://www.rowenacherry.com

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The World of the White Rat with Swordheart and The Clocktaur War by T. Kingfisher, Part 1 by Karen S. Wiesner

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The World of the White Rat with Swordheart and The Clocktaur War by T. Kingfisher, Part 1

by Karen S. Wiesner 

Beware potential spoilers! 

T. Kingfisher's medieval fantasy The World of the White Rat (sometimes called The Temple of the White Rat) is an umbrella series that includes The Saint of Steel series, which I reviewed not long ago on the Alien Romances Blog, as well as Clocktaur War (with two books) and the novel Swordheart. 

 

I purchased the deluxe hardcover edition of Swordheart that came out in February 2025, a reissue of the November 2018 novel. The deluxe copy has gorgeous turquoise sprayed edges with a silvery turquoise foil stamp of a sword on the cover and custom decorated endpapers. This as-untraditional-as-it-gets medieval romance has been described as The Princess Bride meets bodyguard romance. Halla, a widow, inherits her dead husband's wealthy uncle's estate, but greedy relatives scheme to steal it from her. The great-aunt Malva locks her in her room until she agrees to marry her son, the clammy-handed Alver, a milquetoast mama's boy. Halla sees no other recourse but to kill herself--what she sees as her only means of escape. To that end, she pulls down the decorative sword that's been hanging on her bedroom wall for as long as she can remember. Probably to ensure her clothing doesn't get bloody, she undresses and prepares to run herself through, something she quickly discovers is easier said than done. When she finally comes up with a plan for how to do that, she unsheathes the weapon and a knight appears, promising to serve the wielder of the enchanted sword. You know, after he gets over the shock of seeing her buck naked. 

Sarkis is anything but a hero--gaining immortality and servitude as punishment for his crimes in life is how he came to be forged into the sword in the first place. But he agrees to help the curvaceous chatterbox any way he can--at first, at least, in large part because he has no choice but to obey the sword owner. After the two escape the estate, they begin a journey to the Temple of the White Rat, where Halla hopes to get legal help to stake a claim on her unexpected inheritance. 

This amusingly irreverent order worshipping a rat is made up of lawyers, healers, and other community service workers. Various followers of this temple played roles in the four books of The Saint of Steel, and I believe at least one Temple of the White Rat character from that series makes a reappearance here (but I'm not entirely certain**). Also, gnoles (a race of talking badgers that are a part of human society in this medieval world) are included in Swordheart. I think the gnole Brindle was in one or more of The Saint of Steel stories. Additionally, members of the Order of the Sainted Smith (specifically, the vaunted woman blessed by the Forged God with the skill to imprison Sarkis and his two companions), the Hanged Motherhood, and The Dreaming God religious order dedicated to slaying demons (all mentioned in The Saint of Steel) make appearances here in various degrees. The amorous paladin Jorge that Slate meets up with in the first book is one of three paladins for The Dreaming God, and he also appeared in Paladin's Faith. I love that kind of continuity in connected stories. 

**It's difficult to keep track of minutiae in such a vast network of main, secondary, and ancillary characters and world-building elements. Mixed up in this is the fact that every single book in The Saint of Steel as well as Swordheart is impossibly long and, in my opinion, bloated with unforgivable romantic apprehension which produces angst more suited to teenagers than adults between the romantic couple spotlighted in each volume as the individuals try to talk themselves out of falling in love with each other, and for no good reason. This distress is a massively disappointing substitute for true sexual tension and relationship development. Sadly, all of Kingfisher's romance-slanted stories I've (so far) read suffer from this malady, in my opinion. 

In any case, Halla and Sarkis' journey is long and fraught with never-ending hilarity at times bordering on (fortunately, mostly fun) ridiculousness, contradictory tender mawkishness sprinkled with shocking vulgarity (another common trait of Kingfisher's anti-romance stories), and plain good entertainment. A weird thing about this particular story is that there isn't a whole lot at stake, so there's little plot tension, and yet almost nothing seems to go right for either of the two main characters. These minor issues that crop up are in the foreground and develop because of character-inspired "clumsiness" (for lack of a better description). They aren't usually the main plots going around viable twisty turns. They're just random situations that crop up to thwart Halla and Sarkis's progress toward their goal. For example, they're robbed at one point because Hallas stupidly trusted some woman who asked for her help at an inn. The female turned out to be part of a gang of robbers. Minor problems like that happen more frequently in this story than, say, a plot element that goes off on a necessary bender. Instead, in Swordheart, legitimate plot developments tend to go smoothly, almost without a hitch. As a result, the external plot comes off as almost too easily resolved. 

Also, the stakes didn't feel quite high enough. The worst thing that could have happened at the end of Swordheart was that Halla would have a) gotten the inheritance and taken Sarkis as her life companion (best case scenario), b) been forced to marry a man she didn't care for (worst case scenario), or c) just fended for herself in the world without either man or the money (middling scenario). None of those options seemed particularly end-of-the-world in the spinning of this novel. 

While the lack of critical, escalating tension and high stakes didn't exactly make the story and its full-fleshed-out characters drastically less enjoyable, this aspect did make the novel a bit less memorable than it could have been with higher stakes and less easily resolved external conflict. 

I liked (didn't love) this low-key, off-the-cuff tale that included an okay romance that's mildly similar to Shrek, with a very unlikely pair cast as hero and heroine who, by all logical estimations can't possibly end up with a happily ever after but somehow do. I also loved dipping back into Kingfisher's well-constructed medieval world that feels like home now. 

In the note in the back of Swordheart, the author said she intended to write a trilogy that includes Sarkis's two companions in life, Angharad and Dervish. She also said she was already working on the sequel--Angharad's story specifically. However, on her website, when asked if there will be a sequel to Swordheart, she says, "I hope so. For some reason, the Dervish’s story just does not want to come out. I’ve tried everything short of an icepick. Hopefully it will unjam at some point. I’ve got about 15K on it, and it’s not dead, it’s just…slow." On Goodreads, it says Swordheart #2 (which I assume includes one of the two stories of Sarkis's mercenary companions who were bound into magic steel as punishment for their crimes), Daggerbound, is to be published in January 2026. On my Libby library app, I discovered an actual back cover blurb for the book, which tags Dervish as the main character in the book. There, it states the book will be released August 24, 2026. Who knows which is correct? The deluxe edition of Swordheart #1 is probably in preparation for the upcoming release of the sequel. I may review it if/when it's released, as well as any future follow-ups. Note: I'm unclear whether the author has finished Angharad's story that she claimed to be working on in the Swordheart author note, but it seems that the Dervish story may have unjammed itself and become #2 in the trilogy instead of #3.

Next week I'll continue this review with the two books in Clocktaur War. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website and blog here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog and her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Thornhedge

THORNHEDGE, by T. Kingfisher (reviewed by Karen in mid-December), is a unique, emotionally stirring re-vision of “Sleeping Beauty” from the viewpoint of the fairy who casts the sleep spell. I'm a big fan of fairy-tale retellings, especially those that offer fresh angles on familiar classics. THORNHEDGE flips the perspective on the original tale's malevolent antagonist and innocent victim. Suppose there’s a very good reason why the princess shouldn’t be allowed to wake up? The protagonist, Toadling, a were-toad (it makes sense in context), has spent countless years lurking outside the deserted keep within its nearly impenetrable barrier of thorns and brambles, guarding the magic that keeps the princess in suspended animation. Meanwhile, the outside world rolls on through catastrophic historical events, such as a devastating plague, of which Toadling knows nothing until a curious knight arrives on the scene.

At first she only wants him to go away, but loneliness and the intriguing novelty of having someone to talk with overcome her reluctance to interact with the stranger. We gradually learn her background and the truth of the princess in the tower in a series of flashbacks as Toadling reveals her story to the knight. Born human, daughter of a minor king and queen, she was snatched from her cradle and replaced by a changeling. Since the fairies’ sole purpose for this action is to place the changeling with an unwitting family, they usually abandon the human child. The protagonist was found by greenteeth, marsh-dwelling faerie creatures; instead of eating her, as they often do with children, they lovingly raised her as one of their own. Growing up more fay than human, she learned water magic and shapeshifting into a toad. Later, she got instruction in spellcasting to prepare her for her destined mission -- to save her real parents from impending danger. Time in faerie unfolds at a different speed from mortal time; in this case, many years pass in faerie during mere hours or days in the mundane world (the reverse of the more common lore). So Toadling arrives in the royal court on the day of her substitute’s christening. A slip of the tongue makes her prepared spell go disastrously wrong. She’s barred from faerie and stuck with watching over the little changeling princess.

Halim, a Muslim knight who’s far from distinguished or wealthy, has little or no interest in tourneys or fighting in general. Instead, he has an insatiable drive to investigate mysteries and an open-minded, compassionate nature. When Toadling gives up trying to drive him away, they become friends of a sort as he attempts to break her “curse” by every method he can think of. Once he accepts her insistence that she herself is not cursed, he decides to enter the keep and convinces her to help him. Maybe they can find a way to free Toadling from her centuries-long vigil and exile from her home. In Toadling and Halim, Kingfisher has created two more of her typically thoughtful, quick-witted characters who don’t fit into the patterns of the roles they would play in most traditional fantasies or fairy tales. Their dialogues are delightful and the bond that grows between them deeply moving in a quiet way. Kingfisher’s afterword labels this book a “sweet” story, and I agree. Though there’s no hint of a potential sequel, I’d love to read the further adventures of these characters. In my opinion, THORNHEDGE is practically perfect, except that it’s too short.

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt