Top 10 Science Fiction Books of ALL Time (THE Definitive SciFi List)

As with my fantasy books list, this is just as definitive and all-encompassing. You think I can't read every book ever written and even the ones currently being written? Well, I say you're probably thinking along some very sane lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_30t_ingok&t=20s

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Audiobook Review - Consider Phlebas (Culture #1) by Iain M. Banks

Here's my Audiobook Review for Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks, book 1 in the Culture series, though it's the second book I've read from the same series. The book ... and review ... are a bit disjointed, but that was intentional to match the book ... I'll stick with that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaLC1zuKypM

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Audiobook Review - Recursion by Blake Crouch

Here's my review for Recursion by Blake Crouch. Did you like it as much as I did?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoEMSDyJecM

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100 Subscriber and GIVEAWAY! ($25 at Book Depository, your choice)

It's been a while since I've done a giveaway so here we go again. There are just a few extra steps this time cause big things are happening on the Youtube channel. Please check out the link below and the description of the video for the giveaway rules. (They're pretty simple)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWmnaMQpHUQ

Please like, subscribe, and comment for your chance to win $25.00 (American) worth of Book Depository as long BD can reach you. That's pretty much it, but please still check the full rules.

My Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for the First Half of 2021 (ish)

Here's the video for my top 10 books I've read this year so far. Almost got it at the right time, but like usual, not quite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFblcLg8Juo&t=1s

Thanks for checking it out. Please like, subscribe, and don't hold back! Like, why is your title so long and stupid? I'm wondering the same!

Book Review - Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds (Revelation Space Prequel) | Youtubes

Here's another review, this one for Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds, prequel to Revelation Space. These have been fun for me, not sure if that's true for anyone else, but here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QASLr84I_jg&t=608s

As usual, please like and subscribe, comment to tell me what I can do to be not crappy! (*step 1: use better grammar)

Kindle and Audiobook Deals for July 28, 2021 - Sandman 1 (Neil Gaiman) is Free, 5 Wheel of Time Books 1/2 price

My video description has a list of links. Yep, that's how I get you, one more click away, sorry to be that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Mqg_-JW9g&t=1s

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Audiobook Review - New Found Land: The Long Haul by Austin Grossman, Neal Stephenson, and Sean Stewart

 Pretty much everything I do is a test or something I'm having fun with. I attempt to mimic the audio and totally don't fail...right? Right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ingKJvgmE4&t=44s

Please check it out and tell me how bad that impression was. Also, please subscribe!

(Audiobook) Review - The Player of Games (Culture #2) by Iain M. Banks

For my first foray into Iain M. Banks' world of the Culture, The Player of Games pretty well blew me away. I'm still thinking about it weeks after finishing. I've realized I need to know more about the Culture though, so much more.

As I'm last to the party with Banks (it seems to me), I'm sure you already know, but if you don't,  Gurgeh is a professional game player. The best of the best. Better than Ninja (any gen z'ers around?). He's conscripted (I won't get into details) to play the ultimate game on an alien world and it's about to get real.

This game has it all, different levels, different amounts of players, it's so ineffable, we don't really get a description of it, but that just adds to the enigma that is Azad (also the name of the empire). 

It's such a brilliant telling of some relatively typical tropes, but it felt so fresh...even though it was first published in 1988.

I can't wait to get into more of Banks's Culture series and probably anything else he has to offer. I didn't know if starting book 2 of the series was the right choice having never read anything else, but this recommendation worked at least for me.

Narration: This was my first experience with Peter Kenny (to my knowledge) and I thought he did a wonderful job. I barely noticed his involvement, which is the best kind of narrator. Great voices, good simpering machine voices, and flowed quite well.

4.5 out of 5 stars (highly recommended)

(Audiobook) Review - Ringworld (Known Space #1) by Larry Niven

This is one of those mandatory reads for sci-fi aficionados (like myself of course) and I have to say it did not quite live up to the hype.

Funny story, I actually read one of the newer books a number of years ago, Betrayer of Worlds or something like that, since I had received BoW as a review book for my blog. Not knowing much (clearly), I jumped in and really ended up enjoying it. 

The funny part is, I didn't love Ringworld all that much. It had some very interesting concepts, but I tend to read for characters or at least some plot with great concepts, but this didn't really have much more than the concepts. I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style, but mostly the cardboard cutout characters kept reminding me of characters like Belgarath the Sorcerer from the Eddings books. 

They had one character and that was it. The Kzin is angry, the girl is flighty but lucky, Louis Wu had some character I guess, but it was hardly a focus.

I think what really disappointed me was the "twist" at the end which I'll address with spoiler tags:

spoiler: Then there's equating "luck" with "fate" that just didn't seem to work for me. Maybe I've watched too much Deadpool, but this felt like such a stretch as to make it deus ex machina. End spoiler

Narration: Grover Gardner was one of those old-school narrators. The reading was pretty stiff and didn't do the story I was already bailing on much justice. On the good side, I believed his female voices so that worked.

2.5 out of 5 stars (recommended with reservations)

Quoted - Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole has a quote from my review!

I don't think I'll ever become a published author (I think you have to write something first and then it probably has to be semi-decent from there) so getting a review quoted in a book is just about as close as I'll ever get. 

To pick up a book I loved in a Barnes & Noble and see my review at the front is really fun, especially since I'd stopped looking for some time (I used to look constantly!), I can only imagine what it's like as an author to see your published work there. 

Here's the quote from this review:

"[O]ne hell of a ride. Beware, if you pick it up, you may not be able to do anything until you finish. It's that good...Myke Cole is an author to watch and Shadow Ops: Control Point is possibly the best debut of the year. I know it's early yet, but I couldn't put this book down and that goes a long way for me."

Review - The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway

What got me to read The Gone-Away World (Vintage Contemporaries) was the tag line on the back saying there would be mimes and ninjas. Then I read another book by Harkaway and was blown away by his prose so this book was inevitable even though it was the first I was planning to read.

Having read it, I'm not sure how much I can tell about it other than to say it will easily be one of my favorite reads this year.

It's nuts, literally as insane as you can imagine when they're selling it with mimes and ninjas. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, at least in the current narrative portion, but I have to warn you that it's filled with flashes to the past. It's the narrative conceit here. It's not as much as Wizard and Glass (Stephen King), but it's not too far off either... You've been warned, but I think that helps knowing.

This is one of those books that you have to be along for the ride, not necessarily the plot. There are so very many tangents that you have to just enjoy it. They're all over the place and not just in the fact that you're doing yet another flashback.

While I'm acting like this is a bad thing, it's really not. I just know how much of a shock this kind of narrative can be. Wizard and Glass is my favorite in the Dark Tower series, so that's where I'm coming from.

If you like zany characters, ninjas, weirdness, and definitely mimes in an odd-ball, off-the-wall, tangent-filled, joke-filled post-apocalypse .... then you're totally going to love this.

4.5 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)

Audiobook Review - The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel by Erin Macdonald

I have to admit, I've always been a little curious as to what sci-fi gets right. The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travelwas a lot of fun to listen to and confirm some suspicions while learning some brand new things.

Like the fact that the universe is always expanding and accelerating and how long it would take, at a certain acceleration to reach lightspeed. Thus ... is the universe expanding at faster than light speed (FTL) at this point? The didn't address this specific point, but I'm still curious.

And that's what I really enjoyed about this, I'm still curious. It was probably good that I just listened to The Order of Time too.

She mentions quite a few science fiction books, but mostly focuses on television and movies, especially Star Trek (not a whole lot of science in Star Wars, though she does address it in the FTL section). I was impressed she referenced one of my all-time favorite shows, Community, for it's multiverse episode (which is seriously the best, please watch it).

Interestingly enough, she (and others) have actually tried to calculate what warp speed would look like and it seems to be possible, just the energy required would require pretty much all of it.

Definitely highly recommended.

4 out of 5 Stars (Recommended ... still)

Review - Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith

What an odd gem Only Forward is. It starts out as an entertaining thriller set in a unique near-future world. I was digging it immensely, especially because the main protagonist, Stark, is extremely engaging. He was a perfect mix of humor and can-do that makes for some great lines.

For instance:

"[T]he stations zipped by soundlessly, and I geared myself up for whatever it was I had to gear myself up for. I didn’t have much to go on, so I just geared up generally."

Talking about not wanting to remember a thing: "but I knew I was safe: I always lose my mental notes."

On the topic of a long wait at a restaurant: "Then finally, like some optical illusion, the art student reappeared. I found myself frankly incredulous that she didn’t now have grey hair and walk with a stoop, and decided it must be her great-granddaughter bringing my order, concluding an ancient and mystic hereditary task passed down the family line."

Also:

"Life is like a video game: when you get to a new screen, the thing to do is move as quickly as possible, before the situation gets any worse."

Then, about 50% of the way through (exactly 50% on my Kindle actually), this book gets weird. Your thriller is turned on its head and we go to dreamland...erm...Jeamland.

It almost lost me at that point if I'm being honest.

Luckily, I stuck with it, probably mostly because of the protagonist, because the weird doesn't let up, but the dreamland is really kind of a cool idea. I can see not everyone jiving with the ideas presented, but I finally grew to really like it.

Then, there are some well-done last-minute twists that sealed the deal on top of everything.

I don't want to give away too much. My recommendation, give it a go and push through the weird bit. It does put the whole story on its head, but I thought it worked.

4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)

Review - Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

I've been dying to read this book for years, but due to my terrible inability to read books not in audio format lately, this one's been on the backlog ... until I recently got Audible and find out Snow Crash is an "only from Audible" exclusive.

This book has so much going for it and that's why it's been something at the top of my list. 

Ninja swords, check. 
Hackers, check.
Future dystopia, check.
pizza delivery, weird, but check.
Virtual reality, check.
Ninja fighting, check.

This also screams 80's, which is when it was written, but I was fully on board with all of the above. I also recently watched Kung Fury and Hasselhoff's accompanying music video, True Survivor, so I was extra pumped for this read.

The beginning pulls you right in. Grabbed me right away and that was so exciting. I was fully engaged at this point. Pizza delivery, 30 minutes or less or the mob boss destroys you. Then Hiro (Hiro Protagonist, which is still a bit too on the nose for what even I know is satire), picks up a pizza that's already 20 minutes into the time period. He meets Y.T. who's also a very cool character and of course, hot as hell.

Wow, so exciting. And that's not the only time. There are a number of great, exciting scenes. If only they could have held any kind of decent pacing, but sadly they started to become the rare gems amid a lot of meh.

I enjoyed the point Stephenson is trying to make that people can essentially be coded by their own languages. I'm not sure I fully agree with it outside the novel, but it absolutely works here. The problem in this books is that the characters are 80's cool, but lack any kind of substance. They're essentially placeholders for an 80's wetdream, but they have no development and definitely no growth throughout the novel.

Then there are the info dumps. First, I guarantee there are a million different ways this information could have been peppered throughout the narrative to keep the flow moving (and cut down as well!), but they are so halting and long and, honestly, largely useless for understanding the concepts, that it really makes this a torture at times ... even on audio.

Speaking of audio, since this is literally the only audio version available (with exceptions I'm sure), it's also very 80's, but this time in the worst possible way. The narrator himself, Jonathan Davis, does a good job. I'm not commenting on him. It's the quality of the sound and the production added in that killed me. They use that 80's, I don't know how else to call it, swipe that attempts to make everything sound futuristic, but only takes you out of the story and reminds you you're listening to some very dated technology.

Not only do they have the futuristic swipe, but they added some mumbling, speaking in tongues, to enhance the story I'm sure, which sounds vaguely racist and ... pulls you out of the story.

I am pretty disappointed overall. This had so much going for it and it's considered a classic, but it's so uneven and the characters are so poorly drawn that I can't say I cared all that much for them. I did worry it might sound a bit dated, but overall I don't think it was too dated for me (other than the actual technology used to produce it). 

2.5 out of 5 Stars (meh)

Review - Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan

Michael J. Sullivan has made a name for himself by not only mastering the self-published market, but by making the transition to traditional publishing. Successful on both fronts, Sullivan continues to publish books whether a publishing house wants to pursue it or not. This is ideal for an author because their ideas need not be limited by whether a traditional publishing house can make money or not. The author can just write stories.

In the case of Hollow World, it was the best of both worlds. Traditional publishing passed on the idea so Michael decided to self-publish it with the help of Kickstarter. There, he obtained the money for two excellent editors who are known for excellent work in traditional publishing markets. Once this got going and the interest was obvious, Tachyon publishing jumped on board - a smaller house, but with plenty of audience reach. 

I jumped on the Michael J. Sullivan bandwagon when he was self-publishing his Riyria Revelations series (because that's how cool I am).  I took a safe bet, what with blogs and forums being abuzz at the time, which is the effect Goodreads and blogging have had on my life. I tend not to read many bad novels anymore.

Wow, lots of rambling today.

Hollow World is a time travel novel about a distant future when individuality has been obliterated in favor of peace and longer life. Sullivan explains in the introduction that the reader shouldn't get bogged down in how time travel works in his novel because that's not the important part - it's about exploring the new world and the characters who are doing it. And at the same time, I was perfectly convinced that time travel could work the way it's explained.

But I think that was a good primer. This book is science fiction, but it's not really about the science. Okay, it's not about the science at all. It's about the future society, the trade-offs, the character interactions, and a compelling mystery to boot.

It's amazing how many trade-offs we, as a society, are willing to endure. We accept automobiles because of how useful they are, yet they cause how many thousands of deaths a year. David Foster Wallace has a short article on the trade offs of the patriot act and our lack of public discussion about whether we, as a society, were willing to sacrifice our privacy for security. 

Are we willing to trade individuality for peace, for longer life, for the cure to cancer and any other disease? That's what Hollow World invites you to discover and that's only peripherally. Against this background, he throws in a page-turning mystery where in a world with no disease and crime is unheard of, murders are suddenly occurring. 

Michael J. Sullivan proves his hand at science fiction and ideas just as he proved it in his excellent fantasy series, The Riyria Revelations and Chronicles. I had a great time with this one. Yes, there were some parts you have to suspend disbelief, but I was engaged with the story too much to care, and it is time travel so you have to expect that. 

Hollow World is a place you want to keep exploring. Sullivan's typical style is present here, no getting bogged down with info-dumps. The pages fly by and you get the necessary information as you go. This was a great break in my typical epic fantasy heavy reading schedule and highly recommended.

4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)

A copy of this book was provided by the author (and I contributed to the kickstarter for that matter).

Review - Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey

I'm not usually a fan of crime novels or crime noir, whatever you want to call them. I also can't watch CSI or NCIS because even though I acknowledge they are well done, I've even been known to enjoy them on occasion, they tend to be the same cookie-cutter/paint-by-numbers plot.

However, add a little science fiction and the mix can be brilliant as demonstrated in Leviathan Wakes [US] [UK].

Leviathan Wakes (LW) takes place solely in our solar system, which is a rare thing for most SF works it seems and yet it felt just as futuristic and vast as anything else I've read. It also contributed to the feeling that this future could very well be our own not too distantly.

One of the brilliant ideas that gets explored has to do with racism. In this new solar-system wide colonization, there are certain physical traits that are readily apparent whether you are born on Earth and the surrounding planets such as Mars or beyond the astroid belt. Those on Earth are stockier due to the much more intense gravity and those beyond the belt, or Belters, are skinnier and much taller. 

These differences along with the dependence on Earth no matter where anyone is make for difficult times politically and a solar-system on the brink of outright war at any given moment.

LW follows from the viewpoints of two characters (not counting the prologue and the epilogue), one a captain of a transport ship (Jim Holden) and the other an investigator (Detective Miller). Holden inadvertently gets his crew involved in a solar-system wide struggle and Miller is just doing his job and gets entangled himself. Holden is an Earther and Miller a Belter.

There are mysteries, set-ups, and atrocities (and even vomit-zombies!) and yet it really comes down to the characters despite how captivating the plot is or even how intriguing the ideas are.

The characters are the best. Holden's crew is one I'm looking forward to following through the next couple books (hopefully), and Miller is smart and interesting too. The only drawback really is that due to the whole story coming through the points of view of Holden and Miller, much of the discoveries have to come through them too. And as smart and capable as they both are, it's a little unbelievable that they're the only two in the entire system that could make the connections they make to solve the mysteries.

Overall, LW's a great read that's hard to put down. I found myself drawn to it every time I had a spare moment and that's always a good sign. The action is constant and you're pulled from one scene to the next with some great reveals and revelations.

4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended)

The Expanse: (Read in Red)
0.5) The Butcher of Anderson Station
1) Leviathan Wakes
2) Caliban's War
2.5) Gods of Risk
3) Abaddon's Gate
4) Cibola Burn (Comes out 2014)

Review - The Ghost Brigades (Old Man's War #2) by John Scalzi

Warning: Spoilers for Old Man's War (review) book one in the Old Man's War sequence.

A secret is discovered and war is looming. Former enemies are allied against the Colonial Union and it's up to the Special Forces, the Ghost Brigades, to stop them. They only take the dirtiest jobs and this is no exception.

The Ghost Brigades [US] [UK] deals almost exclusively with the Special Forces who have been nicknamed the Ghost Brigades on account of their entire Forces using the bodies of people who did not enter the military, but for whom a clone body was created, for new consciences.

Two things stand out right away. One, there's no first-person narrative here and two, John Perry (our protagonist from OMW) is nowhere in sight. In fact, he's mentioned in passing about once or twice, but that's it.

Other than that, The Ghost Brigades is a typical Scalzi effort - a fast pace, some witty (and non-witty) banter, and cool concepts that keep the pages turning.

The Ghost Brigades is definitely a step down from Old Man's War. OMW really hit the spot when I read it a number of years ago, the surprise at what these elderly folks were getting themselves into when they signed up for the military at the end of their lives was a great one and the action was non-stop for the rest of the book.

Here, things felt a little more forced, even though I had a good time reading from start to finish. I enjoyed it, but there were a few things that niggled where that didn't happen before (one instance is the "why don't we go up in the trees" plan if you can call it that). I'll admit it's been a few years (and a few kids) so it could also very much be me.

Some of the banter, as I mentioned above, was also a bit awkward this time instead of remotely funny. There's a part toward the end where they "don't" talk about secretive matters that just made my eyes roll. Too many eye rolls begins to make those stars start shedding.

Although it sounds bad, I really did enjoy The Ghost Brigades and I'm looking forward to The Last Colony. It's fun and exciting and hard to put down even, there were just some parts that put this below OMW even though the rest of the book was on par.

3.5 out of 5 Stars (recommended)

Note: I make fun of a quote on the back of this book that really makes no sense here.

Old Man's War Universe (Read in red)
1) Old Man's War (review - if you can call it that)
2) The Ghost Brigades
3) The Last Colony
Zoe's Tale
The Human Division

Novellas
The Sagan Diary ($2.99)
Questions for a Soldier ($0.99)
After the Coup ($0.99)

(partial) Review - AfroSF, Edited by Ivor W. Hartmann

AfroSf  is a science fiction anthology solely by African authors and hence from an African perspective. Not only did this spark my interest, but one of the authors, Dave de Burgh, is a fellow blogger and all-around stand up kind of guy. He's the reason I wanted to at least read a couple of the stories in this anthology. 

I feel like if bloggers can make exceptions for their harsh no-indie-published-books rules, it should be for other bloggers (if anything to hold the door open if I ever decide to write my masterpiece *grins*).

I don't have lots of time and I'm already far behind in my review queue for the end of the year, so I figured I'd give at least a couple stories a go and maybe some day I'll have time in the future (yeah, still holding out for the invention of the 33 hour day).

As Goodreads says:

AfroSF is the first ever anthology of Science Fiction by African writers only that was open to submissions from African writers all across Africa and abroad.

"AfroSF is an intense and varied anthology of fresh work. Readers and writers who like to explore new viewpoints will enjoy this book." — Brenda Cooper, author of The Creative Fire.

“This is a book of subtle refractions and phantasmic resonances. The accumulated reading effect is one of deep admiration at the exuberance of the twenty-first century human imagination.” — A. Igoni Barrett, author of Love is Power, Or Something Like That

“The stories in AfroSF feature all the things fans of science fiction expect: deep space travel, dystopian landscapes, alien species, totalitarian bureaucracy, military adventure, neuro-enhanced nightlife, artificial intelligence, futures both to be feared and longed for. At once familiar and disarmingly original, these stories are fascinating for the diversity of voices at play and for the unique perspective each author brings to the genre. This is SF for the Twenty-first Century.” — David Anthony Durham, Campbell Award winning author of The Acacia Trilogy.

“I’d like the repurpose the title of an old anthropological study to describe this fine new anthology: ‘African Genesis.’ The stories in this unprecedented, full-spectrum collection of tales by African writers must surely represent, by virtue of their wit, vigor, daring, and passion, the genesis of a bright new day for Afrocentric science fiction. The contributors here are utterly conversant with all SF subgenres, and employ a full suite of up-to-date concepts and tools to convey their continent-wide, multiplex, idiosyncratic sense of wonder. With the publication of this book, the global web of science fiction is strengthened and invigorated by the inclusion of some hitherto neglected voices.” — Paul Di Filippo, co-author Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010.

Moom! by Nnedi Okorafor - The World Fantasy Award-winning author of Who Fears Death gives us a story from the perspective of a swordfish. I can't say I've ever read a story from this perspective, but I can definitely say she nailed it. I thought I was swimming along, witnessing the destruction of its habitat by those greedy for oil. Very unique and interesting. (4/5 Stars)

Home Affairs by Sarah Lotz - This story really resonated with me. I recently had to make a call and go through what seemed like an infinite set of automated responses while my query was unique enough I knew I needed to talk to someone. After going down so many automated paths I was about to scream, I finally found the number to press for a human, where I was told it was too busy and it hung up on me! Not even a hold. Anyway, that's as frustrated as you'll get reading this story, but it's so well done, and even humorous at times though serious for the most part. I couldn't put this one down, great story. (4.5/5 Stars)

Angel Song by Dave de Burgh - Angel Song is a great burst of military action with a very interesting idea, the angels as beings of light who have begun attacking humanity's distant settlements. Some believe they are actually angels sent from God, hence the name, but not all, especially with the death and destruction they cause. Well done. (4/5 Stars)

AfroSf will be available on December 1, 2012 (this Saturday). Also check out their Facebook page for information and updates. With these few stories alone, it's looking to be a good one, something to come back to when I have time and probably even when I don't.

EDIT: AfroSF is now available on eBook at Amazon. EDIT: I couldn't find the list of contributors the other day, but thanks to David Anthony Durham, I have it:

‘Moom!’ Nnedi Okorafor

‘Home Affairs’ Sarah Lotz

‘Five Sets of Hands’ Cristy Zinn

‘New Mzansi’ Ashley Jacobs

‘Azania’ Nick Wood

‘Notes from Gethsemane’ Tade Thompson

‘Planet X’ Sally Partridge

‘The Gift of Touch’ Chinelo Onwualu

‘The Foreigner’ Uko Bendi Udo

‘Angel Song’ Dave-Brendon Burgh

‘The Rare Earth’ Biram Mboob

‘Terms & Conditions Apply’ Sally-Ann Murray

‘Heresy’ Mandisi Nkomo

‘Closing Time’ Liam Kruger

‘Masquerade Stories’ Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu

‘The Trial’ Joan De La Haye

‘Brandy City’ Mia Arderne

‘Ofe!’ Rafeeat Aliyu

‘Claws and Savages’ Martin Stokes

‘To Gaze at the Sun’ Clifton Gachagua

‘Proposition 23’ (Novelette) Efe Okogu 

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher

Review - Blade of Tyshalle (Acts of Caine #2) by Matthew Woodring Stover

I got a Kindle and guess what was my first purchase? You guessed it, Atlas Shrugged! Okay, no, it was this one, Blade of Tyshalle [US] [UK]. I was looking forward to it, but it's all but impossible to get in paper form unless you want to pay out the nose.

Because I had such a long wait time between this book and the first in the Acts of Caine, Heroes Die (which I was inordinately hard on for some reason), I had lots of time to read reviews and such and opinions are actually quite divisive.

On one side, you have those who absolutely adore the book and yet acknowledge how different it is from Heroes Die. These people tend to like Blade more than the Heroes. On the other side, you have those who just hated it, hated that it was a completely different book with a simple premise. I found myself in the former category (hence the 5 stars I guess).

I went into Blade not really knowing what to think, but having this idea that it would be a completely different book than it was. I had this picture that it would be a philosophical treatise almost. I was wrong. Not completely wrong, but very wrong nonetheless.

The thing is, Blade of Tyshalle is everything you would expect in a sequel to Heroes Die. It's easily one of the bloodiest, action-filled, killfests around. This was, for some reason, a big surprise to me. There is constant action.

At the same time, Blade is a very introspective book (this is where the philosophy comes in). There are lots of ideas thrown around about life and about living. I didn't even necessarily agree with all of them, but it got me really thinking.

Stover's "about the author" in some of his books reads something like, "Matthew Stover believes everything you need to know about life can be found in his books." I always thought that was pretty conceited, but now I'm starting to see why he believes this way.

One of the main arguments he puts forth here in Blade of Tyshalle is that you can really do anything you want. If you want it, do it. It's that simple. This kind of thinking really jives with me. I very much believe that life is what you make it, even as cheesy as that sounds. If you want to be rich, you can do it, you just gotta work your butt off to get it. Same goes for fame, for anything.

I think most of us fall in the category of 1) having multiple passions, which means all suffer and/or 2) getting comfortable where you are (or lazy in my case), which is why we're not rich or famous, but probably a lot happier. I'll stop before this takes over...

Anyway, tangent aside, the world that Stover has created is incredible. If the fact that his world contains a futuristic caste-based society that sends "actors" to a medieval fantasy-type world to reek havoc and practice magic purely for entertainment doesn't make you want to read a book, I don't know what would.

Seven years after the ending of Heroes Die, the first in the Acts of Caine, Caine finds himself it a bit un-Caine-like situation. He no longer has the use of his legs, what with that whole magical sword, Kosall, running him through to his spine. In fact, he hates when people remind him he's Caine.

His best "friend" (i.e., not really his friend at all, but worst enemy), Tan'elKoth, formerly known as Ma'elKoth or the bad guy from Heroes Die who found himself "transcended" to Earth, is the only one he can really talk to.

While "Caine" (or Hari now) pines for his old life, he now lives with his wife, Shanna, and daughter, Faith. He was even bumped up a caste to Administrator. So really, he's got it made. Well, not really at all because then we wouldn't have this fun story here.

Being Caine, Hari ticked of his share of people on both Overworld and Earth and that doesn't bode well for a nice, peaceful life of luxury. With a mix of old grudges and dark powers arising, Blade of Tyshalle ups the ante from Heroes Die in so many ways.

Not only does Blade deal with a medieval world that can be accessed from Earth, but the ideas Stover presents are epic themselves. Is it worth saving the world when you can't save a loved one? Is the world even worth saving? Is it worth saving one world while damning another? What if the first world has billions of more people, and especially children? These are just a couple of the questions that really had me thinking.

If there's anything I hate, it's plot-lines where the main protagonist, the hero even, loses his powers. This didn't work for me in Spider-man 2 (movie) or in Batman Returns (graphic novel). Although I still enjoyed the latter, I didn't love it because of this aspect. In this book, that seems to be the case, that Caine has lost his Mojo. It could be argued so, and I was definitely of this opinion for most of my read, but it's really not the case. Is it really the physical parts of you that make you you?

While at the limits of my gag reflex, Blade of Tyshalle comes highly recommended. It has EVERYTHING you could ever want from a fantasy and more. The pages turn themselves, the writing's spectacular, the world is insane and fully fleshed out (much more here than in Heroes Die too), and the action is the best you'll find. This isn't just puffery, I challenge you to find better action.

As bloody and brilliant as you would expect from the awesomeness that was Heroes Die and yet Blade of Tyshalle takes everything up a notch. Action-packed mayhem and ideas that make you think? Yes, you can have it all. Bloody brilliant.

5 out of 5 Stars (Best. Book. Ever.)

Note: This review may have had a hand in getting me to finally make time to read this book.