Archive for the ‘Stina Leicht’ Category
Cold Iron, by Stina Leicht
Posted on: April 17, 2017
Cold Iron, by Stina Leicht
published in 2015
where I got it: purchased new
Cold Iron came out in 2015, and it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since. Stina Leicht? Everything she writes is gold, so why did I wait so long to read this one?
This is why I was nervous:
- It is a fat book. It looks like it would take me forever to read, and through all of 2015 and 2016 I had very limited reading time. Did I want to commit to a book that was going to take me a month to read?
- The cover art screams military fantasy. Yes, I know I went through my Joe Abercrombie phase, but then I realized I was no longer interested in trails of dead bodies. I was no longer interested in stories that glorified battle and killing. The cover art shows a dude with a pistol, looking over a field of battle. Was I going to like this book??
Every so often I reread my reviews of Stina Leicht’s Fey and Fallen books, and am reminded of how much I love her writing. Prose sharp as a knife, plotting so tight you’ll never escape, and good god the characters she develops. I recently did a 5 books 50 pages, where I grabbed 5 books I’d been meaning to read, and only committed to reading the first 50 pages. If I liked what I was reading, I could continue, and if the book just didn’t do it for me, I was under zero obligation to read further. My comments about Cold Iron after 50 pages were:
“Nels is broody, his personal bodyguard/spy/assassin Viktor is snarky AF, I want to join up with the Waterborne, and Leicht has already written the sequel. As she always does, Leicht writes characters you immediately become invested in. Cold Iron is some solid awesome.”
I was hooked in the opening chapter. Nine pages in, and I knew I’d be devouring this novel. A ritual done after a death, swords that carry the memories of the dead. I was happily hooked. And the book only got better from there.
Everything about this novel was so wonderful, that I don’t know even where to start. The characters were fantastic, the pacing is spot on perfect, and I loved that Leicht built a fantasy world that exists in a changing world.
I loved the world of Cold Iron. Leicht created a magic filled fantasy world, one where blood remembers and swords and knives carry memories, a world where water-weavers can control the weather and speak to creatures of the ocean deep. And then she had a non-magical culture (humans!) invade it with muskets and small pox. Yep, small pox. And that’s not a spoiler, by the way. The Eledorians are used to fighting with magic, but how do you magic away a high mortality infectious disease to which no one has immunity?
The best books I read this year
Posted on: December 12, 2012
It’s that wonderful time of the year again! When we bake cookies and get cards in the mail and forget that we need extra time to warm up our cars in these cold, cold mornings.
It’s also time to talk about the best books we’ve read this year. I confess, I cheated a little on my list, I didn’t limit myself to books that came out in 2012, I’ve even got a reread on the list. Mostly space opera, a little fantasy and time travel, even a YA book made the list! In no particular order, here are my top books that I read this year, with review excerpts and links to the review should you feel so inclined to learn more about the titles that rocked my world this past year.
Redhead’s Best of 2012
Faith, by John Love (2012) – I read this all the way back in February, I knew right then it would make my best of the year list. An amazing debut from author John Love, Faith is a dark and tense stand alone science fiction novel. The pages drip with a danger and fear that doesn’t quickly dissipate after you’ve put the book down. This isn’t a book for everyone (that’s a polite way of saying it has lots of violence, amorality and swear words), but for those of us that like this sort of thing, Faith is quite the hidden gem.
(full review here, and I got to interview the author here)
Silently and Very Fast, by Catherynne M. Valente (2012) – has anyone been putting out short stories, novellas and full length novels as fast as Valente? she’s the hardest working writer I know, and this year she got to walk away with Hugo for Best FanCast to show for it. it’s no secret that Valente is one of my favorite authors, and the Hugo nominated Silently and Very Fast is certainly her most science fictional piece. With her signature flair for poetic metaphor and lyrical storytelling, this novella follows the life of Elefsis, a house AI who was told fairytales by the human children in the house. To Elefsis, life is a fairytale, and it should have a happy ending.
(full review here)
Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht (2012) – I don’t read a lot of urban fantasy, but when I do it’s a treat for it to be a beautifully written as this series (the 2nd book And Blue Skies from Pain came out later in 2012). Northern Ireland, the 1970s, Liam Kelly would prefer to live a normal life. He’s not interested in getting arrested or learning secrets about his heritage. But all of those things are very interested in him, and in destroying everything in his life that he cares about. Leicht spoiled me for urban fantasy. I am eagerly awaiting future novels in this series.
(full review here)
And Blue Skies from Pain (The Fey and The Fallen, book 2), by Stina Leicht
published in March 2012 from Night Shade Books
Where I got it: the library
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And Blue Skies from Pain is the sequel to Of Blood and Honey (reviewed here), and thus this review will involve some spoilers of the first book. You’ve been warned.
The super simple fast review is if you like your urban fantasy intelligent, powerful, and heart wrenchingly beautiful, this is the series for you. I lost sleep over this book. I was late to work due to sitting in my car, reading just a few more pages. If you are not reading Stina Leicht, you are missing out on some of the best urban fantasy being written today.
Northern Ireland, 1977, and for once Liam Kelly has something more pressing to worry about than The Troubles. He’ll do anything to avoid returning to the prisons, and he isn’t interested in working for any side again. He’s seen enough pain and enough death. With the help of Father Murray, Liam has learned to separate the shape-changing part of him, known as The Hound, and crush that portion of himself into the back of his mind. But the more he separates himself from who and what he truly is, the more dangerous he becomes to himself and others. At least his Fey father, Bran, is finally speaking to him. But the Fey have problems of their own, and Bran may not be able to drop everything every time his son calls to him.
As part of a truce agreement between The Church and the Fey, Liam is offered up to the inquisitors so the Church can determine what exactly he is. The inquisitors were the most gut wrenching, frightening part for me. While the Hound in the back of his mind is telling him to get out, the voice in my head is screaming RUN. This is beyond Danger Will Robinson. My emotional reaction was pure animal, pure visceral, pure and utter lizard brain fear, telling me to run until I ran out of earth to run on. Other readers certainly may not experience it quite as ripely as I did, but still, this is some successfully scary and worrysome shit.
Of Blood And Honey by Stina Leicht
Posted on: April 24, 2012
Of Blood and Honey, by Stina Leight
published in Feb/March 2012 by Nightshade Books
where I got it: the library
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Against the backdrop of The Troubles of Northern Ireland in the 1970s, Liam Kelly just wants to live his life. He’s a teenager at the beginning of the book, and like all teenagers, he finds trouble. In casual support of the local riots, he’s arrested. I was addicted to this book on page 2, and less than 30 pages in I was directly invested in Liam Kelly’s future. In and out of internment camps, and hoping to return to his betrothed, Liam trust that his Confessor, Father Murray, will help plead his case.
Through little fault of his own, Liam gets a reputation during his time in the camps. His friends at home always knew he was a little off, always knew he had a temper. But now, people who hurt him, people who threaten his safety or the safety of his family are later found dead and mutilated. Liam didn’t hurt them, but somebody did. And every day, Liam gets closer to turning into that something.
The word that kept coming to mind while I was reading Of Blood and Honey was “sharp”. Leicht’s prose style is sharp, and I mean in that in the most basic dictionary definition – sharp like a razor. Her words cut and punch and bite at the most vulnerable parts of your body. And I couldn’t stop reading, I couldn’t stop letting these stabbity little sentences have their way with me.
the Little Red Reviewer 
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