Em's Picks

It has always struck me as a curious part of human nature that we should wonder, to the point of obsession, about the pasts of those we care most deeply about. Underneath this is the question of how much we really can know about another person, but perhaps more importantly how much we really have a right to know. The protagonist in our novel, Alex, finds himself faced with questions such as these after the murder of his wife, and learns from her death much more of her past than she would ever have told him in her life. Every Contact Leaves a Trace is the moving, honest, occasionally heartwrenching story of Alex’s journey to discover what really happened to his wife, and to reconcile what he learns with the love they held for each other.

I've always been a fan of fairy tales, and when I saw my favorite author was taking on the Snow White legend it took more patience than I knew I had to wait for release day. Camille is Snow White as you’ve never seen her, complete with scars, a stutter, an immortal family hell-bent on protecting her, and a past so dark she can only remember it in her nightmares. But Cami can't escape her past forever, and when it — and the White Queen — catch up with her, it'll take her friends and her immortal fiancé, a stranger she doesn’t know if she can trust, to get her out alive. Oh, and those friends bear strong resemblances to Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, whose stories (if I've followed our author's blog correctly) you can expect to be coming along soon.

After finishing this book, I immediately knew I wanted to write a review, but there were so many fascinating aspects of the novel I wasn't quite sure which to focus on. More than just an entertaining sci-fi, Lord's novel explores many divergent facets of culture and human personality. When Dllenakh's home-world is destroyed, devastating the Sadiri population, he's sent to Cygnus-Beta and tasked with finding the remaining Sadiri suitable partners to repopulate the race. Delarua is assigned as liaison to help Dllenakh with his task. She's impulsive and strong-willed, the opposite of the fiercely controlled and mentally advanced Sadiri, yet she and Dllenakh get along oddly well. Their journeys raise interesting questions about intercultural interactions, along with the question of how much a culture can — or perhaps should — reasonably hold on to their past when they've lost nearly everything.

Remember that intense feeling of wonder you used to get reading books in your youth, when it felt like the world of the story opened up around you and pulled you right into it? Until I picked up this book I hadn't read a novel, as an adult, that made a setting come to life so intensely that I actually felt myself a part of it. The White Forest has a Gothic and, at times, almost phantasmagorical feel to it as the story progresses, inviting you to discover the secret behind Nathan Ashe’s disappearance, and the truth behind Jane Silverlake’s ability to perceive the souls of man-made objects. You won’t want to put this book down until you discover just what the white forest really is, and once you do, you might not be quite the same.

Alex Verus has issues. All he wants is to live a quiet life running an occult shop in London, and to be largely forgotten by the magical community. Unfortunately he's also the only diviner without the sense to go underground when the Council and the Dark Mages begin a war over a powerful precursor relic, and that makes him...useful. In the mage Alex Verus, Jacka introduces a character who's not just quirky, a bit sarcastic, and infinitely fun to spend time with, but who also has some startling insights into the human condition. Verus observes several things I've thought for a long time, but still many more that made me pause and think. Somewhere in between outwitting opposing factions and protecting his cursed (literally) would-be apprentice, he taught me a thing or two about dealing with the past as well. I couldn't ask for a more usefully-entertaining urban fantasy.

Drizzt Do'Urden is one of the most interesting characters I've run across in modern fantasy; born among the dark elves in the underground world of Menzoberranzan, where the only steadfast moral law is to have the strength to back up your actions, Drizzt's refusal to abandon his own sense of right and wrong makes him an outsider among his own kin, and nearly results in his death. Homeland begins Drizzt's journey out of Menzoberranzan, and his eventual quest to be accepted in the world aboveground. At turns funny, sad, and philosophical, The Legend of Drizzt series is a great deal more than just your typical sword-and-sorcery adventure. This is RA Salvatore at his best.