James Nicoll Reviews

All acquired for commissions. It was a very heavy week for requests for authors named ​“Brennan”.

The sound of the horn pierces the apeiron, shattering the stillness of that realm. Its clarion call creates ripples, substance, something more. It is a summons, a command. There is will. There is need. And so, in reply, there is a woman.

At the beginning―no―at the end―she appears, full of fury and bound by chains of prophecy.

Setting off on an unexplained quest from which she is compelled to complete, and facing unnatural challenges in a land that doesn’t seem to exist, she will discover the secrets of herself, or die trying. But along the way, the obstacles will grow to a seemingly insurmountable point, and the final choice will be the biggest sacrifice yet.

This is the story of a woman’s struggle against her very existence, an epic tale of the adventure and emotional upheaval on the way to face an ancient enigmatic foe. This could only have been spun from the imagination of Marie Brennan, award-winning author and beloved fantasist, beginning a new series about the consequences of war―and of fate.

Once, there was a call — a binding — and so, a woman appeared, present in body but absent in knowledge of her past self. 

Making the ultimate journey of rediscovery was not without its own pitfalls — or rewards — and now Ree, a roaming archon, spirit of legend and time and physically now bound to her current form, has yet to fully uncover her true identity.

Ree has spent her last innumerable seasons on the move — orbiting, in some sense, the lands of her only friend in this world, Aadet, who has become intricately involved in the new post-revolution politics of his people. Swinging back from the forests surrounding Solaike, Ree falls in with another wandering band, some refugees accompanied by their own archon, who seems to know much more about Ree’s own origins than she ever dared to hope.

The Borderlands aren’t like anywhere else. Don’t try to smuggle a phone or any other piece of technology over the wall that marks the Border ― unless you enjoy a fireworks display in your backpack. (Ballpoint pens are okay.) There are elves, harpies, and ― best of all as far as Elliot is concerned ― mermaids.

​“What’s your name?”

“Serene.”

“Serena?” Elliot asked.

“Serene,” said Serene. ​“My full name is Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle.”

Elliot’s mouth fell open. ​“That is badass.”

Elliot? Who’s Elliot? Elliot is thirteen years old. He’s smart and just a tiny bit obnoxious. Sometimes more than a tiny bit. When his class goes on a field trip and he can see a wall that no one else can see, he is given the chance to go to school in the Borderlands. It turns out that on the other side of the wall, classes involve a lot more weaponry and fitness training and fewer mermaids than he expected. On the other hand, there’s Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elven warrior who is more beautiful than anyone Elliot has ever seen, and then there’s her human friend Luke: sunny, blond, and annoyingly likeable. There are lots of interesting books. There’s even the chance Elliot might be able to change the world.

High Couch of Silistra is a story of sex, power, metaphysics and adventure told from the perspective of one world’s most desirable courtesan.

FOR ADVENTUROUS READERS ONLY

“We are all bound,” is the great truth of Silistra: Bound by biological necessity and genetics, the men and women of Silistra struggle to sort Nature from Nurture – where Nature always wins.

Welcome to Silistra, a glimpse of a far distant future wherein a civilization proclaims the greatest feat an individual can perform is to produce one child, yet distrusts the sciences that brought them to the verge of extinction. Here women and men coexist uneasily in a society ravaged by war, technology, and infertility, each vying for power, seeking dominion over one another.

Be warned, if your tastes run to simplistic plots, throbbing organs, swooning damsels or kick-boxing women in men’s armor, Silistra may be too challenging. Misogynists, misanthropes, misandrists, or fans of political diatribe, this is not the book for you.

High Couch of Silistra, first of the notorious Silistra Quartet, brings us to a realm where thought alters probability, where creativity is inextricably linked to the urge to own and dominate, and where the universe itself is amenable to a focused mind. Rooted deeply in humanity’s mythic past yet unaware of the planet Earth, High Couch of Silistra begins one woman’s quest for self-knowledge – with surprising results.