James Nicoll Reviews

1972’s Deryni Checkmate is the second volume of Katherine Kurtz’s Ruritanian historical fantasy series, The Chronicles of the Deryni.

AD 1121: Having secured his rightful place on the throne of the Kingdom of Gwynedd, one might think that all of young King Kelson Haldane’s problems are over. They are just starting. 

The Eleven Kingdoms (of which Gwynedd is one) have a healthy sense of competition. Neighboring Kingdom of Torenth is preparing to invade Gwynedd. And that’s not the worst problem facing the King and his allies.

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2019’s Meet Myself There is the second volume in Brenda W. Clough’s Edge to Center time-travel series.

President Calla Ang of Jalanesia and her husband Colonel Bencasilat ​“Ben” Ming are enjoying a quiet day at home when a time-travelling assassin — Frances ​“Fanny” Allen-Forstyth née Wragsland — appears and murders their daughter Lilias and her nanny Sala before she is gunned down by a quick-thinking Ben. Very tragic but also in no way the end of the matter. 

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1993’s The Gripping Hand is the utterly unnecessary sequel to Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s 1974 The Mote in God’s Eye. I still consider Mote a classic. As this is not. 

A quarter century after the events of Mote, Horace Hussain Bury is an unpaid servant of the Empire of Man. He fears that humanity will be overwhelmed by the highly intelligent, quick-breeding Moties and has engaged in an unending quest to save his species. 

Untoward events on Maxroy’s Purchase suggest Bury’s vigilance has been for naught.

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2016’s Apprentice Shrine Maiden, Volume 3 is the third instalment in the second arc of Miya Kazuki’s Ascendance of a Bookworm secondary-world fantasy series. Illustrations are by You Shiina. The 2020 English language translation is by Quof.

Myne kept the secret of her past — that she contains the memories of a Japanese bookworm who died when her books collapsed on her — a closely held secret. True, she possesses great knowledge of many topics utterly unfamiliar to her new homeland. She thought that she could conceal this advantage. She couldn’t. Circumstances forced her to confess all to High Priest Lord Ferdinand. Magic has confirmed her story. 

Myne believes that she is now free to return to her avocation of upending society through the introduction of innovations. These innovations may cause side-effects, but she’s not worried about those. All she wants is realize her dream of mass-produced books. 

She’s wrong. Pursuing her dream has become more difficult. 

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Two-Handed Engine is a collection of vintage science fiction and fantasy by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore. The stories were written in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. They were collected and published in 2004 by Centipede Press. Some stories were by Kuttner or Moore solo; most were collaborations. 

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2021’s Jade Legacy is the third volume in Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga. 

Ayt Mada has a grand plan to unify Kekon against external enemies. Unfortunately for the surviving Kaul siblings, Hiloshudon (Hilo) and Shaelinsan (Shae), their No Peak clan is an impediment to Mada’s grand plan. There have been years of bloody conflict between Ayt Mada’s Mountain clan and the Kaul’s No Peak clan. Worse yet, Lan, the Kaul sibling who would have been the best choice to lead No Peak to victory, has been dead since the first volume. This has left poor Hilo to struggle in Lan’s place. 

The larger context: great powers Ygutan and Espenia have intruded into Kekon’s bucolic world of bioenergetic jade-enhanced clan warfare. The clans have returned the favour. Conflict is endemic … and expensive. Both Kekon clans need cash, which overseas ventures might provide. 

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Ethan I. Shedley’s 1979 Earth Ship and Star Song is a stand-alone science fiction novel. It was his debut novel. 

Thanks to concerted efforts by many generations of humans, 21^st Century Earth is clearly doomed to horrific death due to runaway greenhouse effect. When closely examined, every proposed mitigating technology has secondary effects that will accelerate the planet’s doom. Of the four possible coping mechanisms, three can be eliminated as impractical.

The best chance for the human race (and a selection of terrestrial lifeforms) is to flee the planet in great arks. The technology needed is in hand … save for one small detail.

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1989’s A Rage for Revenge is the third volume in David Gerrold’s The War Against the Chtorr series: a multipart tale of the ongoing and highly successful efforts of an alien ecosystem to remake Earth in their image. 

Lieutenant James McCarthy signs up for Mode training, which is a bit like ESTif EST were to involve more verbal abuse and threats of physical violence. It soon becomes clear that McCarthy suffered something even worse than his usual bad luck. Cue lengthy flashback!

Readers triggered by child abuse will want to stop reading right now.

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A Bride’s Story, Volume 4, is the fourth installment of Kaoru Mori’s historical manga series. Originally published as Otoyomegatari, Volume 4, this volume was first published in Japan in 2012. The English translation appeared in 2013. 

Guide Ali delivers English scholar Henry Smith to Muynak, a small town at the edge of the Aral Sea, at which point Smith rewards Ali’s diligence by falling off his camel into the water. Smith is retrieved from the water by twin sisters Laila and Leily. It is on these two teens the narrative focuses.

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1972’s Orbit 10 was the tenth volume in Damon Knight’s Orbit series. Like the previous nine anthologies, it offered a selection of original science fiction stories.

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