Soulless – Gail Carriger
Orbit, 2009
384 pages
RRP: US$7.99
ISBN: 9780316056632

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

Soulless is the first in a series of steampunk whodunits, The Parasol Protectorate, set in an alternate Victorian era, where werewolves and vampires have their own niches in Society just like the rest, and where the rules of etiquette apply to them just as much as everyone else. The heroine of Soulless is Alexia Tarabotti, is a spinster of the advanced age of twenty-six, whose prize possession is her trusty brass (but silver-tipped) parasol.

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A Madness of Angels – Kate Griffin
Hachette Livre Orbit, 2009
472 pages
RRP: AU$22.99
ISBN: 978-1-84149-733-4

Reviewed by Kate Smith

A Madness of Angels was a read that I could not put down, enjoyable not only because it was an interesting story but also because it was different to the norm of this genre of novel.  While the plot for the story does not appear to be particularly distinct from the blurb, from the first chapter it is clear that there is something different to Griffin’s work.  Matthew Swift is a sorcerer who has been fundamentally betrayed by his mentor and friend.  He must bring together groups with little in common apart from their enemy to find ways to trust each other and to work together to bring about the demise of the monolithic organisation that is the evil within London.  However, despite what appears to be several familiar story lines, including the seeking of revenge, there is so much more to this novel.

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Sound Mind – Tricia Sullivan
Hachette Livre Orbit, 2007
357 pages
RRP: AU$22.95
ISBN: 978-1-84149-405-0

Reviewed by Jacinta Rosielle

As a reader with an adoration of stories which make me question what is real, and as a musician with a hankering for experimentation, this book had swallowed me whole within the first twenty pages. I hadn’t read any books by Tricia Sullivan before and on the few occasions that I’d closed the book I was having to wipe a few spots of drool off the back cover as I eyed the thumbnails of two of her other novels, making plans to order these sometime soon.

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Dark Space – Marianne de Pierres
Hachette Livre Orbit, 2007
416 pages
RRP: AU$19.95
ISBN: 978-1841494289

Chaos Space – Marianne de Pierres
Hachette Livre Orbit, 2008
395 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-184-149429-6

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

The first two novels in the Sentients of Orion series are the beginning of a fantastic space opera from Australian author Marianne de Pierres. After reading her Parrish Plessis trilogy I was expecting butt-kicking action in the same vein, rather than this twisting tale of plots and counter-manoeuvres centring around the invasion of Araldis, a small desert mining planet of no particular significance, and the discovery of Sole, a godlike entity who has an agenda which doesn’t necessarily correspond to that of the humans.

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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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Once Bitten, Twice Shy – Jennifer Rardin
Hachette Livre Orbit, 2008
312 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-1-84149-637-5

Another One Bites the Dust – Jennifer Rardin
Hachette Livre Orbit, 2008
318 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-184-149639-9

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

Once Bitten, Twice Shy is the first in a series by Jennifer Rardin, about a CIA operative Jaz Parks, whose partner/boss Vayl, happens to be a vampire. It’s paranormal action chick-lit, with butt-kicking left, right and centre. Imagine Buffy crossed with Alias and you’d be pretty close.

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The Atrocity Archives – Charles Stross
Hachette Livre Orbit, 2007
319 pages
RRP: AU$19.95
ISBN: 978-1-84149-569-9

Reviewed by Jacinta Rosielle.

Zombies, gorgons, and lamias. Hi-tech spy gadgetry and blood-daubed pentacles. Charles Stross has created a world in which the occult, the supernatural, history and science fiction weave together to form a bizarre re-working of our current reality.

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