SCI-FI AND FANTASY
THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE by Samantha Shannon
(Bloomsbury £16.99, 848 pp) easT is east and West is West in this sensual, majestic work from the author of the The Bone season books.
We’re transported to a full-on fantasy world of warring continents, religious fanatics, magic jewels, schemers and dreamers, not to mention dragons, wyrms, wyverns and worse. Feared in the West, but worshipped in the east, dragons could save or end civilisation, provided religious bigotry, ancient customs and old-fashioned greed can be set aside. Three women hold the future in their hands: haughty sabran, queen of inys; the mysterious ead, her assassin protector; and the beautiful Tané, an oriental dragonrider.
Blending politics with high adventure and the epic with the intimate, the narrative builds like a tidal wave before sweeping towards an awesome, climactic finale.
KELLANVED’S REACH by Ian C. Esslemont (Bantam £20, 352 pp)
every road in Quon Tali is crooked, and fortune is fated to find reverse gear all too easily. Fractious fiefdoms form and break alliances like it’s going out of fashion, leaving the chaos to be navigated by a fascinating cast of characters.
These include Ullara, a blind girl, setting off solo into the unknown to find her destiny; two escaped prisoners on a hopeless quest for glory — or just a warm meal — who join the fabled Crimson Guard; a grizzled mercenary’s quixotic attempts to outsmart an entire army; and the very arch mage Kellanved’s unlikely rise to the throne of Heng.
With dazzling shifts of scene and shafts of grim humour, some excellent magic and satisfying fights, this is a gripping, delicious third addition to the Kellanved story cycle.
ANCESTRAL NIGHT by Elizabeth Bear
(Gollancz £16.99, 512 pp) Haimey DZ is an engineer on a salvage ship, the space tug singer, which she shares with handsome pilot Connla Kurucz, an a.i. brain, and two cats.
They travel through an interconnected universe where all uncomfortable feelings are drugged away — but what memories are being suppressed?
Then the crew comes across an abandoned space ship being used to process giant, intergalactic seahorses (fabulous creations) into hallucinogenic drugs.
Pursued across time and the outer limits of space by a sexy, ruthless pirate, and befriended by a sardonic, praying mantis the size of a horse, Haimey’s troubled past starts to catch up with her at warp speed.
Gravity manipulation is a running theme in this awesome, awe-inspiring space opera. Fittingly, it shifts from weighty themes to lighter humour with dexterity, grace and crackling dialogue.