Not surprising given that they included it as one of their
top five genre books of 2010, but the
Library Journal has just given James Barclay's
Elfsorrow
a starred review! They write that it "packs a visceral, gritty appeal and will attract fans of Glen Cook’s classic 'Black Company' novels. Pyr will publish the second volume, Shadowheart, in December, so order both titles for your fantasy collections."
"This gripping saga is as much historical drama as horror story," says
Patricia's Vampire Notes, speaking of Jasper Kent's
Twelve
. They say, "Kent convincingly portrays the difficult life of the soldiers and the terror faced by civilians in occupied territory. Starvation for each was a constant companion. In
Twelve
there are mysterious deaths and disappearances which are shrugged off as some sort of plague. No one except Alexei, and eventually his comrades, suspect the true horror behind the loss of life. I would not categorize
Twelve as a thriller because the pace is slower than novels like
Blood Oath
or
The Passage
. Still it will keep readers captured by terrific story-telling, well wrought characters, and gripping, supernatural horror."
LEC Book Reviews takes a look at Clay and Susan Griffith's
The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire Book One)
, and writes, "Folks, this one is full of action, adventure, myth, rousing emotions and characters which there’s a good chance you’ll grow to love - be prepared to add it to your reading lists." They go on to say, "Many other reviewers have called this book the ‘best vampire book of the year’ and I’m tempted to agree, though I don’t know how much weight that would carry seeing as
The Greyfriar is just about the
only vampire book I’ve read this year... What I can say however is that Clay and Susan Griffith’s debut novel is a strong offering that has very good chances of winning you over. My recommendation goes to most readers of speculative fiction but in particular to epic fantasy lovers as this may just fulfill your needs for something a bit shorter and different while retaining obligatory epic proportions."
Interesting selection. I've been hearing about "Greyfriar" quite a bit lately. Aren't Clay and Susan a married couple? I find that fascinating since I've always thought of writing a novel as a solitary pursuit. I wonder if, between the two of them, they'd admit whether one or the other is in control of more of the vision. Can you detect a difference in styles in the book's passages?
ReplyDeleteWalter
ReplyDeleteWe are are married. The short answer is that we work through the plot in detail and then divide up the chapters/scenes. Then we hand the material back and forth countless times to blend our voices. We each have our strengths and tend to defer to whomever is best in any particular areas, i.e. character, politics etc. We certainly work to blend our voices into a single style, and even when reading quotes in reviews, it's hard for us to tell exactly who wrote that scene originally.