Sasha – Joel Shepherd
Hachette Livre, 2007
448 pages
RRP: AU$32.95
ISBN: 978-0-7336-2141-3

Reviewed by Andrew Williams

With Sasha, Joel Shepherd has moved from SF/cyberpunk (Crossover, Breakaway, Killswitch) into the fantasy realm. The main character, Sasha, living in a small village and in training with her mentor, a master warrior, is, as you might expect, a princess. In most stories, however, she would have grown up as an orphan, and discovered (at the climax of the story) that she was in fact a princess. Instead, Sasha grew up in a castle, and when her oldest brother was killed, through treachery, renounced royalty, luxury, and her home to train with the greatest warrior in the kingdom.

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Blue Noon (Midnighters book 3) – Scott Westerfeld
Penguin Atom, 2006
344 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 1-906233-84-8

Reviewed by Andrew Williams

This is the third book in the Midnighters series, starting with The Secret Hour, and Touching Darkness - urban fantasy with young-adult protagonists. In addition to the usual high school and family woes, they all have to deal with the ‘blue time’. In the town of Bixby, if you were born on the exact stroke of midnight, you have an extra hour each day – while the rest of the world is frozen in time.

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Shadowplay – Tad Williams
Hachette Livre Orbit, 2007
656 pages
RRP: AU$32.95
ISBN: 978-1-84149-292-6

Reviewed by Andrew Williams

Thankfully, Tad Williams abandoned his increasingly tedious multivolume venture into cyberpunk, and returned to what he does best – fantasy. Shadowplay is the second volume in a new trilogy, so read the first, Shadowmarch, before attempting this, as they don’t stand alone well.

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