The Sword of Knowledge by C.J. Cherryh, Mercedes Lackey, Leslie Fish and Nancy Asire

The Sword of Knowledge
This is an omnibus including “A Dirge for Sabis”, “Wizard Spawn” and “Reap the Whirlwind. Dirge is the chronicling of the demise of the Sabis empire. Overrun by barbarians a group of engineers and wizards flee to the wilderness.

Wizard Spawn is decades later and details the decadence and decay that has found the Ancar barbarian invaders who are now the representative civilization. It also is a treatise on intolerance and racism. Duran, a pure blood Ancar, discovers the depth and depravity of intolerance when he helps an injured Sabirn.

Reap is again decades later and set in a stronghold of tolerance. An island of learning and tolerance in a sea of arrogantly intolerant kingdoms, the Order is dedicated to accepting all who wish to learn. Their desire to remain sequestered is shattered by the arrival of a tribe of nomads. The nomads successfully demonstrate the need of the Order to change and more directly apply their principles.

I liked all three books. The authors were very successful in pulling the diverse threads into a well knit tapestry. The characters were very likeable and well defined. They truly came to life to express their concerns and opinions. The drive for knowledge and the desire for freedom from oppression was clearly expressed. There was a deep depth of feelings between the characters that drew you into their world and forced you to share their anguish and delight. My only dismay was there lack of further books. The trilogy demands a sequel. There is much to be told about the future of the Order and the nomads.

Read these books, you will enjoy them.

Body of work of Mercedes Lackey
Body of work of C.J. Cherryh
Body of work of Nancy Asire


Review: http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Knowledge-Cherryh/dp/0671876457


Web Sites:
Mercedes Lackey http://www.mercedeslackey.com/
C.J. Cherryh http://www.cherryh.com/
Nancy Asire http://www.baen.com/author_catalog.asp?author=nasire
Not really her site, she doesn’t appear to have one.

Dark Stranger by Susan Sizemore

A VIP get captured when an enemy fleet surprises and overwhelms her escorting space ships. The Hajim don’t discover the VIPs identity and she is imprisoned on a common prison planet. Her striving for survival while she keeps her status secret is the thrust of the story.

As a fan of fantasy and scifi I expected to really enjoy this book. I didn’t. I think the premise was solid and could have been really exciting. The first thing that skewed my perception was the “smoldering” cover. That should have clued me into the idea that sex might be more dominating than plot. Zoe and Raven seemed more like caricatures than characters. The book seemed more appropriate for Harlequin romances than fantasy. I have a strong suspicion it will sell very well as romance novels seem to do. For me it’s genre was misplaced and thusly disappointing. I think if I had anticipated a romantic novel I may have been less dismayed. I am an avid fantasy and scifi fan and this just doesn’t fit into my preconceived notions of what those genres exemplify. With that said, I do think that the book will be popular, just not with die hard scifi/fantasy buffs.

Body of work of Susan Sizemore

Review

Web Site:

We Few by David Weber and John Ringo

The grand finale of the four book series until they decide to write another one. Weber and Ringo are still unbeatable in my book. They do not spare your emotions in that characters you really like often don’t reach the end of the book alive. I’m 6’2” tall, 220 pounds of weight lifting, manly man old guy who on occasion, tears up during the Star Spangled Banner and the loss of a well loved character in a series that has encompassed around 1600 pages. These bozos seduce you into caring about the characterizations then take them out in an exploding plasma rifle. Needless to say the book is action packed, adrenaline pumped with occasional interludes of civics instruction. An intoxicating if sometimes head scratching mix, I can only hope they decide to do another in the same venue. I highly recommend it.

Body of work of David Weber
Body of work of John Ringo


Review: http://en.risingshadow.net/index.php?option=com_library&Itemid=67&action=book&book_id=7231

Web Site http://www.davidweber.net/
David Weber’s web site is under construction.

Web Site: http://www.johnringo.com/