Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott

Kate Elliott is the author of the highly successful Crown of Stars series, which I reviewed earlier this year. Crossroads is her new series, a seven-volume series which is divided into two trilogies with a linking book between them. Spirit Gate is the first book of the first trilogy (to be followed by Shadow Gate and Traitor's Gate).

For centuries the land of the Hundred was ruled by the Guardians, powerful beings to dispensed justice, aided by their reeves, effectively a police force riding giant eagles. The Guardians have disappeared and are feared dead, but the reevers remain, overstretched and in increasingly few numbers as chaos and barbarism spreads across the land. Reeve Joss is given the difficult task of restoring order to an area in the south ravaged of bandit attacks, threatening trade between the Hundred and the Sirniakan Empire to the south-west.

Meanwhile, in lands far beyond the Hundred and the Empire, a Qin warrior named Aniji marries a local woman, Mei, and finds himself and his troop of 200 soldiers drawn into danger and adventure, forcing them to flee their lands and journey into the Hundred, where they find the land on the brink of full-scale war.

Spirit Gate is a compelling story set in an interesting and well-realised world. Whilst Crown of Stars was deliberately set in a very rigid society highly reminiscent of medieval Europe, Crossroads is far more original and fantastical, although the two works share some character tropes and ideas. The book opens with a nice piece of misdirection that holds the attention and directs the reader into the story. However, the pacing is mismatched and key characters, most notably Joss, disappear for long stretches. In other places the timeline is a bit confused, with Elliott not being afraid to revisit the events of several chapters past from another POV, although once you get used to it this plot device does start yielding useful information. There is also a rather odd tendency for central characters to engage in frivolous discussions and banter in the middle of mortal danger, which defuses tension from the book, and after a very impressive build-up to a major confrontation at the end of the book, the actual final battle is resolved in perhaps two pages at best, which is very disappointing.

On the plus side, the relationship between the reeves and their eagles is well-defined. Those fearing that the giant eagles were going to be reduced to cuddly sidekicks can rest assured that these animals are depicted as the dangerous creatures they are. The idea that the reeves are policemen and not soldiers is also nicely done and leads to some interesting exploration of the roles of the police and the military in a fantasy world.

Unfortunately, the central threat in the book is left rather vauge and undefined. Is chaos and lawlessness returning in general because the Guardians are gone and some people are taking advantage of it, or is there a much darker master plan at work? Elliott hints at both possibilities but never really gives us enough information to come to a conclusion.

Spirit Gate (***) is an enjoyable and solid fantasy novel with some very nice ideas which doesn't entirely come together satisfyingly. Still, the novel leaves me intrigued to read the sequel, which I suppose is its main objective. The novel is published by Tor in the United States in paperback, and by Orbit in the UK in trade paperback and mass-market paperback. The sequel, Shadow Gate, is released in the UK on 3 April 2008 and in the USA on 15 April 2008.

The Wertzone Awards for SF&F Novels in 2007

...although they're likely to be reduced to 'The Werties' for easy reference. Sigh.

I narrowed this list down to the fourteen SF&F books I really enjoyed reading this year.


Best SF&F Novel Released in 2007

1. Brasyl by Ian McDonald

I havent read McDonald's prior work, such as his much-acclaimed previous novel, River of Gods (set in India in the 2040s), so came to this book with no expectations other than hearing he wasn't easy to get into. I was pretty much blown away by the twisting, dazzling narrative which relentlessly pursues three separate storylines across three timezones in Brazil's history (past, present, future) and then pulls them together for a satisfying pay-off. The gorgeous prose, the brilliantly-realised atmosphere (you can almost hear the samba) and the author's enjoyment and love of the country, tacky telenovelas and all, makes Brasyl into something very special indeed. If Brasyl does not win the Hugo Award in 2008, something has gone very seriously wrong somewhere.


2. Black Man by Richard Morgan

Retitled Thirteen in the United States, Morgan's latest novel starts off as just another high-octane futuristic thriller and develops into an intellectually robust deconstruction of America and its society whilst building his two main characters into deeply flawed but sympathetic three-dimensional human beings. His trademark cyberpunk ultraviolence is still intact, but tempered here by a tremendous maturing in both writing and character-building. To shamelessly steal William 'Stego' Lexner's comments about the book, Black Man is A Stranger in a Strange Land for the 21st Century.


3. The Long Price: Shadow and Betrayal by Daniel Abraham

Abraham arrived on UK shores in 2007 with this omnibus of A Shadow in Summer (previously publshed by Tor in the USA in 2006) and its sequel, A Betrayal in Winter. With its intelligent worldbuilding, original core concepts and terrific central characters, this was the finest work of fantasy I read in 2007 (or at least the finest work of fantasy that wasn't actually a 2008 release) and immediately drew favourable comparisons with the likes of Guy Gavriel Kay, as an epic fantasy that engages the heart as well at the intellect. Roll on the final two books!


4. Un Lun Dun by Chine Mieville

The notion of the master of the New Weird movement writing a kid's novel may seem slighlty incongruous, but in his adult novels set in the world of Bas-Lag Mieville frequently shows a playful capacity for creating monsters and scaring the hell out of the reader, and he carries these ideas across to the YA field with aplomb. The revisionist sideswipes at Harry Potter are very funny (particularly the main character being told she has to go on seven long and dangerous quests before she can win victory, only to decide that she can't be bothered and 'skips to the last quest') and Mieville's well of trademark barmy-but-scary ideas, concepts and characters shows no sign of drying up any time soon.


5. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

The notion of putting a 15-year-old book on this list may seem a little odd, but given that Sapkowski made his English-language debut this year I deemed it appropriate to feature here. Sapkowski's revisiting of old fairy stories through the character of Geralt, the titular 'Witcher', is constantly amusing and highly enjoyable, featuring such highlights as a barkeeper's glee as his bar is destroyed by an enraged genie (he'd had the foresight to take out insurance against supernatural forces) and Geralt's battle with a surreal man-goat thing armed with metal balls. With more than a hint of Jack Vance to the proceedings, The Last Wish is an inventive and enjoyable fantasy collection.


6. The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton

No-one does interstellar, big-budget SF blockbusters like Hamilton, replete with huge space battles, fantastic technology and deeply sympathetic characters (more than any other SF writer, Hamilton seems to suggest that the core of what makes us human will not be changed by advances in technology or our expansion across space). The Dreaming Void is a slight change of pace, focused more on character-building and featuring a long-speculated cross-genre move by Hamilton into epic fantasy in a particularly strong subplot.


7. The Fade by Chris Wooding

Sometimes it's great to read a self-contained fantasy novel which starts, says what it wants, and then gets out without overstaying its welcome. The Fade is such a story, cramming tremendous variety into its modest page count and featuring the most evocative underground environment I've read about in quite some time.


8. Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

Abercrombie follows up his accomplished debut with a sequel that turns everything you thought you knew on its head whilst escalating the action and the drama to new heights. Impressive.


9. The Inferior by Peadar O'Guilin

It's eat or be eaten in this Darwinian story of survival amidst a vivid jungle environment whilst the central character develops nicely and a terrific variety of monsters is put on display.


10. Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

Lynch delivers a sequel to 2006's accomplished The Lies of Locke Lamora which starts off by retreading old ground and ends on a mildly unforgivable cliche. But in-between we get a very fun story with crackling dialogue and some more inventive cons.


11. Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson

An improvement on 2006's extremely disappointing The Bonehunters but still rather flawed in places. Erikson manages to deliver another interesting and exciting slice of the Malazan epic with great battles and the deaths of several major characters, which are are well-handled.


12. The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds

Reynolds returns to the Revelation Space universe with this compelling SF-noir thriller about a policeman investigating a heinous crime and uncovering a deadly conspiracy which threatens the Glitter Band, the circle of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone. With some fantastic imagery and, in the Clockmaker, one of the most disturbing SF 'monsters' produced in many years, The Prefect represents Reynolds returning to form.


13. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

As far as epic fantasy debuts go, Rothfuss' is undeniably enjoyable and well-written, although its Harry Potter-for-adults ambitions get a bit wearying after a while, as do some inconsistencies in the plot at the start of the novel. However, the story builds in a satisfying manner and Kvothe is a great protagonist.


14. Cowboy Angels by Paul J. McAuley

2007 was apparently the year that writers finally 'got' how to write quantum SF. Following on from McDonald's Brasyl, Cowboy Angels had a fantastic central concept (the USA extending its cultural imperialism across several parallel universes) that was well and logically-explored. Whilst McAuley is neither a good a prose stylist as McDonald nor as good a thriller writer as Morgan, he nevertheless delivered a servicably entertaining SF action adventure with some thought-provoking ideas in this novel.

Wertzone Classics: Portal

Every now and then a game comes along that requires serious attention, simply because it is pure genius. Usually such games are mind-boggingly simple, and feature an idea so obvious that it makes other developers slap themselves in the face in disbelief that they didn't think of it. Portal is the latest such game to follow in this tradition.

Portal follows the adventures of a young lady named Chell, who, for reasons never explained, has been held in stasis for an unspecificed amount of time at an Aperture Science Enrichment Facility, waiting to undergo testing and training on the Handheld Portal Device 04 (aka, 'the portal gun'). Chell doesn't encounter any other people, but is guided through the testing facility by GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System), an extremely eccentric AI which becomes increasingly demented as the game proceeds, directing Chell into increasingly hazardous test chambers (including a 'live-fire course usually used to test military androids') but urging her to continue through the promise of cake.

Each test chamber consists of a puzzle which the player must overcome by use of the portal gun. The gun can create portals on certain wall surfaces. Two portals can be created. By simply stepping through one, you step out of the other. Puzzles can be very simple (crossing a chasm by firing a portal onto a wall on the far side and another next to you, and stepping through) or mind-crushingly complex. Since you retain your forward momentum when you pass through a portal, some puzzles involving crossing vast gaps (with non-portal-compatible walls on the far side) can be overcome by generating a portal at the bottom of the chasm, another one on the wall behind you, falling down the chasm at tremendous speed, which then gives you momentum when you pass through the portal to cross the vast gap. Dealing with sudden shifts in orientation and direction is key to progressing through the game.

The puzzles are complicated by the increasing addition of dangerous obstacles, such as energy spikes you have to direct through portals to generators to open up the next area of the test chamber but which will kill you if you touch them, and the sudden addition of robotic sentry guns to certain chambers (which comically tell you they hold no ill wishes when you inevitably destroy them). You also have some help in the shape of the 'weighted companion cube' or 'box' which you can use to press switches, bat aside energy spikes or deflect sentry gun bullets. For a non-sentient inanimate object, the companion cube soon becomes a trusted ally in the game and the puzzle which requires you to 'euthanise' one of them is strangely disturbing.

Of course, there's only so many times you can solve puzzles revolving around portals and the laws of ballistics before it becomes a bit old, and to their credit the developers realise this and only provide twenty test chambers. The completion of the last chamber triggers the second (much shorter) stage of the game where you have to use your carefully-gained portal skills to escape the facility once it becomes clear that something is not right in the world outside (this is where the link to the Half-Life universe is hinted at), leading to the fiendishly satisfying final confrontation and the best end games credits sequence ever.

Portal is a tremendoulsy simple idea, fantastically well-executed. I can imagine the Half-Life 2 team at Valve feeling a bit embarrassed about the fuss they made about the gravity gun when Portal shows off the capabilities of the Source Engine's physics engine with much greater finesse, elegance and originality. At about 2-3 hours in length, it doesn't outstay its welcome (and your brain will be aching by the time you get to the game's conclusion) but it does leave you wanting more. Where a possible Portal 2 could go is unclear, but the game hints that the Aperture Science facility has been abandoned due to something crazy happening in the world outside, and it isn't too hard to tie this in with the Combine occupation of Earth in the Half-Life 2 series of games. Whether this means that any sequel will see Chell taking on the Combine with the portal gun, or perhaps involve her meeting Gordon Freeman, is unclear, but it's an intriguing notion.

Portal (*****) is superb. It's original, it's funny, it's well-executed, it's perfectly-timed and has a sense of humour as black as midnight. It's part of The Orange Box for PC, PS3 and X-Box 360 (see the Half-Life 2: Episode 2 review for Amazon links) and is available now. Go get it!

Half-Life 2: Episode 2

In 1998 the Valve Corporation released a first-person shooter named Half-Life into a somewhat crowded marketplace. When the dust had settled, their title had been acclaimed one of the single greatest games of all time and had won a frankly obscene number of awards. They achieved this by creating arguably one of the most immersive game models of all time (eschewing narrative breaks from the action in favour of game engine cut scenes and never letting the protagonist speak, breaking the spell that 'you' are the hero) and combining it with high-level production values and playtesting the game until it hurt. Through two expansions and a much-delayed full sequel, Valve kept the Half-Life series right at the top of its field, picking up accolades galore.

However, the six-year development cycle for Half-Life 2 (released at the end of 2004) was a cause for concern, and Valve hit upon the idea of breaking the planned Half-Life 3 into three lesser chunks of 4-5 hours apiece and releasing them at six-month intervals, minimising the wait for them and allowing them to modestly improve the Source game engine between each release rather than having to revamp it from scratch, which is what a full sequel would demand. This plan soon ran into problems, with Episode 1 arriving in Summer 2006 months behind schedule and then Episode 2 being delayed again, again and then again until it finally arrived eighteen months late. Hardcore fans were understandably annoyed, but Valve sought to placate them by releasing Episode 2 alongside the even-more-delayed Team Fortress 2 (in development since 1999, believe it or not) and what at first glance appeared to be a throwaway puzzle mini-game called Portal. More on that in a sec. The whole package was dubbed The Orange Box, and was released for the PC, X-Box 360 and PlayStation 3 a couple of months ago.

First to the meat of the package, Episode 2 itself. Episode 1 ended with Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance fleeing City 17 as it was consumed by a colossal explosion. Episode 2 picks up with our heroes abandoned in the countryside and having to make their way to the White Forest resistance base, where the rebels have secreted a project that could shut off the Combine from Earth altogether and give the human race a chance to rebuild. Along the way they have to brave antlion tunnels and numerous homesteads and outdoor areas where the Combine are on patrol.

To a certain extent, Episode 2 thus suffers from 'middle-of-trilogy' syndrome. Nothing is really resolved and large chunks of the game consist of trying to get from Point A to Point C without being killed by Gun-Wielding Maniacs at Point B. That is fine and arguably large chunks of prior Half-Life games consisted of the same set-up. However, this formula (travel-set piece-travel-puzzle-set piece) is getting a little bit old now and having an entire game based around it makes it especially feel limited, especially with new, hungrier games like BioShock and Crysis innovating like there is no tomorrow. The game also suffers from the most terminally boring opening to a Half-Life game to date. In a series which has some of the most atmospheric, immersive openings in computer game history, Valve choose to open Episode 2 with Gordon squabbling around in holes in the ground splatting bugs. Bizarre.

That's the criticism out of the way. Onto the good stuff. Once more, for most of the game you team up with Alyx Vance, who is still the most impressive AI-controlled ally character ever seen in a game. It's a shame there's no co-op mode where a second player can take control of her, but she's so good at covering your ass in combat and not getting in your way that it often feels like there's someone else playing anyway, which is a remarkable feat. When Alyx isn't able to accompany you, you get to team up with one of the vortigaunts, the electricity-wielding enemy aliens from the first game who are now your allies. The vortigaunt's bizarre diction and somewhat over-eager praise (not to mention their occasional descent into sarcasm) provides most of the comic highlights of the game, as well as a few knowing self-referential asides (the vortigaunts seem well aware of the prevalence of physics puzzles in the Half-Life universe and Gordon's uncanny ability to solve them). You're soon given a nifty vehicle and Alyx is back in the driving seat, dealing out the pain alongside you as you engage in a running battle to get to White Forest.

It's during this section of the game that you encounter the two new enemies. The Hunters are mini-Striders who are incredibly tough and have possibly the most powerful offensive weapons seen by any Combine characters to date. Whilst you soon work out strategies for killing them, they remain a tough and challenging foe, powered by some fiendish AI. The Advisors are a very different kettle of fish, having psychic and telekinetic powers which virtually render you helpless in their presence and generally relying on circumstances or unaffected allies to help you out. This makes facing them rather annoying (as they're there to railroad you into the next bit of the plot rather than serve as viable, defeatable enemies) but they are used very sparingly.

After you arrive at White Forest, it's time to defend the base from a massive onslaught of Hunters and Striders using a new high-tech bomb you have to attach to the enemy vehicles with the gravity gun. This section of the game was massively hyped-up in press releases, which spoke of an epic battle involving hundreds of rebel soldiers and enemy forces fighting a pitched battle across a huge chunk of countryside. In reality, the battle lasts about ten minutes, the area of countryside is remarkably small, the other rebel soldiers are virtually useless (since the Striders are now inexplicably invulnerable to the same rockets you killed them with in Half-Life 2 and Episode 1) and the Strider-busting bomb is rather clumsy to use. Once you hit on a winning strategy though, it becomes rather tiresomely easy. Still, this can be forgiven for the absolutely shocking ending to the game which leaves the player reeling and waiting anxiously for news about Episode 3's release.

Whilst Episode 2 is the second-weakest Half-Life game to date (only Blue Shift was less satisfying), neverless it is still a fun, enjoyable game. It is short - only five hours or so - but it packs in a fair amount of variety in that time. Veteren Half-Life players will no doubt be punching the air as some plot elements from earlier games - including one vital piece of information going right back to the start of the original Half-Life itself - are finally explained and resolved, but it isn't long before many more questions are raised. The final scene is absolutely terrific, leaving you wanting to know what happens next.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (***½) is a solid game but not as revolutionary as earlier titles in the series. Nevertheless, it's good to spend time back in that universe with familiar characters and get a few more clues as to what the hell is actually going on.

The game is currently available on the PC in the UK and USA, the X-Box 360 in the UK and USA, and the PlayStation 3 in the UK and USA as part of The Orange Box, which also includes Portal and Team Fortress 2 plus Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1.

SFF World Discussion

I recently had the chance to contribute to SFFWorld's annual round-up of SF and Fantasy releases.

Coverage of the Fantasy side of things can be found here.

Coverage of SF, TV, movies and computer games can be found here.

Many thanks to the SFFWorld crew for inviting me to take part! I'll be preparing a more in-depth round-up of 2007 and a look at what to expect in 2008 in the next week or two.

Update

I am currently reading Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott, the first novel in her new Crossroads series.

With the American Writer's Strike still in full swing, there is a dearth of SF TV at the moment, although Lost returns for a short (eight episode) fourth season in February 2008 and Battlestar Galactica follows with ten new episodes airing from the end of March.

Fans of the Malazan Book of the Fallen sequence will no doubt be intrigued by the news that Ian Cameron Esslemont's second contribution to the series, Return of the Crimson Guard, will have a limited two-volume edition released by PS Publishing several months prior to the 'official' publication of the novel by Bantam UK. The covers for this edition have now been released on the PS website and are very nice indeed.

Users of Amazon.co.uk may be intrigued to learn the PC roleplaying game based on Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series of novels and collections is currently half-price, and the DVD box sets of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are currently retailing at a very respectable £17.99 apiece.

Terry Pratchett diagnosed with serious illness.

British fantasy author Terry Pratchett has confirmed that he has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. Speculation over Pratchett's health began earlier this year when he cancelled several book signings at short notice. Pratchett then revealed he had suffered from a very minor stroke. However, he has now confirmed that this stroke was related to the disease he has now been diagnosed with.

Pratchett displayed his usual good humour when making the announcement, confirming that he is wrapping up his current novel, Nation, and already planning the next, Unseen Academicals.

"I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it's too soon to tell. I know it's a very human thing to say "Is there anything I can do", but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry."

Pratchett has sold 55 million copies of his work, which now comprises 36 Discworld novels, four Discworld map books, three 'Science of Discworld' books, seven other Discworld tie-in books and 11 non-Discworld novels, the most famous of which is probably Good Omens (co-written with Neil Gaiman). He is the second-biggest-selling living fantasy writer (after JK Rowling) and is the most shoplifted author in Britain, which he takes as a compliment.

Best wishes to Mr. Pratchett and his family and here's to many more books, Discworld and otherwise, to come!

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

I have received some queries asking about Brandon Sanderson's prior record as a novelist before taking on the challenge of the final Wheel of Time novel. As a result, here is my pre-blog review of his first novel, Elantris (2005), reprinted for your convenience.

Elantris is the first novel by American author Brandon Sanderson. Refreshingly, it is not the first book in a series, but a self-contained novel in itself (although there are a few loose ends left dangling for possible sequels).

The plot starts off in a traditional manner. The kingdoms of Teod and Arelon is in danger of being swallowed up by their expansionist neighbour, Fjordell, whose religions brooks no rivals. Cue a desperate battle in Arelon and its capital, Kae, as various nobles and merchants race to either ingratiate themselves with the Fjordell or find a way of resisting them.

The more original element of the story is that up until a decade ago, Arelon was protected by the Elantrians, god-like beings with total mastery of magic. Occasionally, humans would be unexpectedly transformed into Elantrians by an apparently random magical process. However, something went wrong. The Elantrians' magic failed and they were transformed from demigods into cursed wretches who are permanantly affected by pain. Every time they suffer an injury, from a stubbed toe to a cut to a broken neck, the pain stays with them permanantly. Unless burned or decapitated, they are also immortal, so a broken back or neck is simply a condemnation to agony rather than death. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the Elantrians are catatonic or totally insane. Their city, Elantris, stands alongside Kae and is now quarantined, with humans transformed into Elantrians thrown into the city and forgotten about.

The novel follows the storylines of three characters: Prince Raoden of Arelon, who is unexpectedly transformed into an Elantrian and thrown into the city, where he tries to make a better life for the people of the cursed city; Hrathen, the Fjordese priest who has three months to willingly convert the populace of Arelon before a major invasion is launched; and Princess Sarene of Tedo, betrothed to Raoden but now immersed in the labyrinth of Arelese politics.

The novel is fast-paced, and generally entertaining throughout. Sanderson is not going to be winning major prizes for his prose, which is effective but somewhat uninspired in places, with occasional over-reliance on exposition. That said, his ideas and execution of plot are pretty good. Hrathen could very easily have been turned into the 'evil priest' cliche but Sanderson gives him real depth and humanity. And, after reading books where the main characters do very stupid things very frequently, Sarene is a refreshingly canny character, although occasionally this thretens to tilt the other way and turn Sarene into a Kellhus-like character (see Bakker's Prince of Nothing Trilogy) who can read people's intentions just by looking them. Sanderson just dodges the bullet on that one. The lack of any magic in the book for about 85% of its length is also refreshing and, when it does come, it's obvious Sanderson has put some thought into it.

There are some other major problems, though. The ending could be described as a bit too neat. And the absolute explosion of 'twists' (some predictable, some not) and an unexpectedly huge amount of magic use in the final part of the book threaten to make the ending implausible and a bit OTT.

Overall, this is an enjoyable 'typical' epic fantasy novel, with some neat ideas and reasonable character development. The prose could do with some work and Sanderson needs to pace his endings slightly better, but overall this is a fun book, and a superior alternative to the likes of Brooks and Eddings. I think fans of JV Jones, Kate Elliott and possibly Raymond Feist would enjoy it.

Elantris (***½) is not published in the UK at present, but US paperbacks are available at Amazon.co.uk. Sanderson's other novels are the first two volumes in The Mistborn Trilogy, The Final Empire and The Well of Ascension, with a third, The Hero of Ages, due next year. Sanderson has a website at this location.

Brandon Sanderson to complete Wheel of Time

Tor Books today released a statement confirming that one of their other fantasy authors, Brandon Sanderson, is to complete Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series. The best-selling series was left incomplete due to Robert Jordan's passing on 16 September 2007 from a rare blood condition, as related here.

Brandon Sanderson is the author of three successful fantasy novels: Elantris (2005) and the first two novels in the Mistborn series, The Final Empire (2006) and Well of Ascension (2007). There is one more book planned for in the series, The Hero of Ages, which will be published in early 2008. Sanderson is also working on a 'free' novel called Warbreaker, which is being released via his website. Sanderson had plans for two other novels entitled Way of Kings and Dark One, but these seem to be on hold for the time being.

According to Tor Books, Sanderson will pick up work on the twelfth and final Wheel of Time novel, A Memory of Light, for delivery in late 2008 and publication in late 2009. Robert Jordan left behind significant amounts of work on the book, including drafts, plot summaries and dictation tapes, and, it is rumoured, the completed final chapter. Sanderson will be working with Jordan's widow and editor, Harriet, on constructing the final novel in the sequence.

There is no doubt that this is a major task for any writer to take on. Congratulations and good luck to Brandon in this endeavour.

The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien

Given that J.R.R. Tolkien died in 1973, the publication of a 'new' novel by him earlier this year provoked a storm of controversy among readers. Of course, this is not the first time that a posthumous Tolkien works has appeared, but it was the first time that such a work had appeared without Tolkien's express permission from prior to his death (as with The Silmarillion) and shorn of substantial editorial coverage explaining the work's origins (as with Unfinished Tales and the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth series). As a result some heated discussion has taken place debating the book's validity and status within the Middle-earth 'canon'.

Despite this, a foreward and afterword by Christopher Tolkien does explain broadly how this book came about, namely through the combination of several distinct narratives that had appeared previously, and indeed all of the work in the book is J.R.R. Tolkien's own, with no linking passages created by his son. As such The Children of Húrin can be enjoyed in its own right, with no concerns over this being a Kevin J. Anderson/Brian Herbert-style cash-in.

The story of The Children of Húrin has been told several times before. A brief form appears in The Silmarillion (1977) whilst Unfinished Tales (1980) contains a much longer narrative, which indeed forms the majority of the work in this book. To anyone who already owns Unfinished Tales, I would suggest borrowing The Children of Húrin prior to purchase as Unfinished Tales already contains the majority of this story and it may be redundant to purchase it again. However, there is a substantial addition of new material near the start of the story and there are of course Alan Lee's gorgeous illustrations, which are worth the price of the book by itself.

The story is set in the First Age of Middle-earth, approximately 6,600 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. Morgoth, the first and much more powerful Dark Lord, has stolen the Silmarils, the great jewels of light forged by the elven master-craftsman Feanor. Feanor's people, the Noldor, have made war upon Morgoth for over four centuries to recover the Silmarils, but after early successes the conflict has turned against them. Feanor and his brother Fingolfin are dead and Beleriand - the subcontinent that used to lie west of the Blue Mountains - is now overrun by Morgoth's troops. In the Battle of Unnumbered Tears the last great army assembled by the elves and their human and dwarven allies is destroyed and Húrin, a great human warrior and leader, is captured by Morgoth. Húrin taunts Morgoth to his face and Morgoth lays down a horrendous curse on Morgoth and his kin. As the story unfolds we follow the fortunes and misfortunes of Húrin's children, particularly his son Túrin, as the curse engulfs them.

This is not a happy story. Even the bitterseet end of Lord of the Rings may not prepare the reader for the sheer tragic power of this tale. Very, very few characters reach the end alive and for all of the victories that are won, the losses are far more vividly described. Those looking for an uplifting story are directed to The Hobbit. In The Children of Húrin we see Tolkien's gift for myth-making in full force. This is a dark, powerful and wrenching tale which is deeply affecting to read.

However, there are some issues. Tolkien wrote the bulk of this narrative after completing Lord of the Rings but it is based on considerably older ideas, conceptions and drafts, and he deliberately employs a prose style even more archaic than some of the later chapters of Lord of the Rings. It is certainly not among Tolkien's easier-to-read works. To those who 'get' the voice Tolkien employs, however, the story is compelling. The other problems are related to the book's length. This is not a long story and despite the publishers going to some lengths to increase the page-count (including putting startlingly large margins around the edges and employing a notably large font size) and throwing new maps, appendices, forewards and afterwords into the mix, it is still a relatively short story (perhaps half the length of The Hobbit at absolute best) for the money they are asking for, especially as the bulk of it can be found in other, longer and more varied works . As I said earlier this is offset by the inclusion of numerous black-and-white illustrations and several full-colour plates by Alan Lee which are incredibly atmospheric and add to the reading experience intensely. Another disappointment is that Christopher Tolkien did not find a way of including the later adventures of Húrin in the book as some kind of postscript (for those inclined, several versions of this narrative can be found in The War of the Jewels, the eleventh volume of The History of Middle-earth series), but arguably this would have been out of place in a book about his children, not the man himsef.

The Children of Húrin (****) is a haunting, gripping story, probably the darkest thing Tolkien ever wrote and it stands alone remarkably well. Those who found The Lord of the Rings not to their liking will probably like this even less and casual fans may find the prose style offputting, but to the serious appreciator of Middle-earth and Tolkien's work, this is a handsome (if rather brief) volume with superb illustrations and is worth a serious look.

The book is available from HarperCollins in the UK in hardcover. A paperback edition will follow on 7 April 2008. The book is published by Houghton Mifflin in the USA in hardcover.