Finding Sky was one of my favorites of 2012. I think a friend recommended it to me, and I thought; what the hell? Always loved stories about super-humans, so I picked it up.
It was surprisingly enjoyable... not because I thought it'll suck, but because so few people read it I didn't know what to expect. Well, I'll tell you what to expect; a well written, sweet and interesting story which will grab you and won't let go. 

The plot was unique, to a degree. You still had that familiar "girl-moves-into-a-new-city-and-manages-to-catch-the-attention-of-hot-and-wanted-boy" drill, but from a certain point in the story it felt to me, at least, fairly unique. Pretty much since the moment Sky was SPOILER kidnappedEND SPOILER, really. It didn't go as I thought it would, which was nice. 
This book did have what I call a 'weak start', though. It wasn't that it wasn't interesting, but it just didn't manage to grab me and I found myself wondering from the story, often having to read one paragraph twice. After Sky met Zed things picked up and near the end they becamesimply great.

The choice to use Sky as the story's voice was a good one. While it did take me a few chapters to get used to her narration, as it was very different from the characters I read about in that time period with all the metaphoric language and imaginative images in it, I think shespeaks kind of beautifully, and there were some metaphors I pretty much swooned over, such as;

"Prisoner in the room through the mirror; an Alice who never made it back through the looking glass."

Sky...

**To read the rest of this review, click the title!!**

I’ve been a fan of alternate history ever since I first picked up a copy of the first book in Harry Turtledove’s Worldwar series. In fact, it is what led me to Eric Flint’s 1632, which served as a huge inspiration for Children of the Halo.

Recently, it was suggested by someone on my Facebook page that I check out SM Stirling’s Island in the Sea of Time. Reading the synopsis, I realized with utter glee that, like 1632, it was another story which paralleled the idea behindChildren of the Halo. It dealt with the residents of the island of Nantucket, off the coast of Massachusetts, and a Coast Guard sailing ship being suddenly whisked away to another time. In this case, circa 1250 BCE.

First of all, I’d like to commend Mr. Stirling. The scenes in which the Coast Guard ship, the Eagle is commanded by its Captain, Marian Alston, were impeccably researched. Of interesting note was the inclusion that the captain was also a divorced black lesbian, thus opening the novel to deal with issues of social justice, as there is no small amount of prejudice against her from some of the people among the citizenry of the Republic of Nantucket. Additionally, I was ecstatic to see that nearly right from the start, the realization that trading with the pre-farming societies of Native America wouldn’t yield what was needed to survive, the crew of the Eagle took to crossing the Atlantic, from the other side, about three thousand years early.

The Europe we find on the other side of the pond is distinctly different from the Europe of modern day, or even of the early modern era, as we see in Flint’s 1632. Britain is populated mainly by warring tribes. The Empires of the day are in short supply. Egypt, Tartessos, Mycenae and Babylon seem to be the only civilizations large and powerful enough to speak of. Still, the people of Nantucket manage to befriend and assist the Earth Folk, a pre-Celtic civilization facing extermination at the hands of the Sun People, invaders from the European mainland.

I felt the execution of the story was both compelling and informative. I had a very easy time turning the page again and again, and rather enjoyed the turnabout introduced as one of the modern Americans turned against his people to seize power of his own by installing himself as a King of sorts amongst the Sun People, done by killing several Americans and stealing a sailing yacht.

During the first half of the book, I must admit I was rather annoyed by some of the characters, and at first I was afraid that the author was presenting many of the male characters as either incompetent, or morally bankrupt, while the female characters persisted on as beacons of goodness, but I was pleasantly surprised as I discovered that this wasn’t entirely the case. Those elements are present, yes, but nearly as soon as I expected the author to continue with the bias, he turned it on its head through a brutal, unforgiving sequence in which men and women are literally eaten by an Olmec Jaguar cult, and the ringleader gets the chance to see what her concept of justice leads to for those who followed her.

All in all, I rather enjoyed Island in the Sea of Time, and I intend to pick up the sequels, Against the Tide of Years and On the Oceans of Eternity and add them to my collection as well. I suggest you take the time to give it a read.

Alternate History is one of the most interesting forms of Sci-Fi, the key to which is getting the reader to suspend belief and buy into the different reality. The Domination Trilogy was Stirling’s first published foray into the AH genre, and I kept getting sidetracked when reading the books on historical divergences that I did not buy. Drakon is the work of a more mature writer and it shows. Only once did I stop and question the author’s logic: I couldn’t figure out why one of the good guys didn’t simply put a .50 caliber bullet from a Barrett sniper rifle into her head; they kept trying to kill the superwoman close in.

That is really nitpicking, however. This is a good read and any Stirling fan will enjoy it. It is close to being my favorite Stirling novel. The plot is intricate, the writing is good, the characters are realistic, including the featured and minors, and the story does not drag. He makes the interplay between 1999 Earth and the technology of 2442 believable. Good stuff.

The book revolves around an interesting question; What if technology and gunpowder stopped working? Well of course the obvious answer is all hell would break loose. Dies the Fire sets up the world that will continue through several titles and introduces us to the 2 groups the series will be following, the Bearkillers and Clan Mackenzie.

It is the story that is the real high point of this book. I will say that some of the rules about what happens seem a bit weird and unconnected. However once you get past that the rest of the world evolves in a very believable way. The way groups form, who goes where, how areas of society break down all seem very well thought out. The story jumps back and forth between the Bearkillers and Clan Mackenzie, but it is the Bearkiller half of the story that really makes this book such a joy.

As with most books of the genre the characters can be a bit clichéd at times. Stirling does manage to have them rise above that for the majority of the book however. Most of the time when reading Dies the Fire the characters come off as well balanced and interesting. Anything that has to do with following Havel and his group around is completely engaging. The supporting Bearkillers are nearly as well written and interesting as Havel. I can almost not say enough how much I enjoyed reading about this group.

On the flip side you have the characters following Mackenzie. My praise for the Bearkillers should not lead you to believe the Mackenzie’s are completely uninteresting. My only real complaint about them was that the constant Wicca refrain that hurt any section of the book it showed up in, or at least made it more annoying. It is clear the author has a fondness towards the religion but it began feeling very preachy in parts. Unfortunately Stirling’s passion has overshadowed what could have been an otherwise equally interesting group to read about.

Of course what is any book without a villain? Arminger is a superb antagonist and comes off as incredible smart, ruthless, and only slightly flawed. Having read so many sci-fi titles with incompetent or completely outmatched bad guys, this depiction of a villain who is the equal of the heroes was a fresh change of pace.