Antimatter Blues

In this greatly anticipated sequel to Mickey7 summer has come to the world of Niflheim. Mickey is enjoying what he hopes to be a pleasant change in career paths, while avoiding the potential wrath of colony administrator Hieronymous Marshall who still hates him on general principle. Unfortunately, with the change in season comes unforeseen consequences for the colony. The mysterious aliens the creepers are still skulking about, but there are new and unforeseen threats on the horizon. Mickey may find himself called out of retirement in his job as an Expendable whether he likes it or not. Thus he finds himself with a case of the Antimatter Blues.

Picking up roughly two years after the events of Mickey7, the colonists have managed to get things more or less up and running. However, disaster threatens as their reactor seems to be going haywire. And unfortunately for them, the only source of readily available fuel in the region just happens to be in the hands of the inscrutable aliens. And what do these aliens know about antimatter?

Mickey Barnes is once again our cheerfully irreverent and wisecracking protagonist who is, as per usual, in way over his head. Seeing this world through his eyes is a delight, and he brings a sort of everyman view to the utterly fantastic. Doing his best not to get murdered by a furious Marshall, the local fauna, or even a beat down from his girlfriend Nasha who is, understandably, annoyed by some of his antics. That level of pressure would cause anyone to crack, but not Mickey, whose unenviable immortality allows him to have a sense of detachment from things while also not quite wanting to have to be killed in the line of duty again just yet.

His supporting cast of Berto and Nasha is still excellent. They both offer some witty ripostes to one another, but still act as his friends. Nasha definitely has his back no matter what the circumstances, while Berto can be seen as a little more suspect. His friend, perhaps former lover, Cat, is still around and still looking out for him too.

Niflheim now that it isn't a massive iceball, has more to offer the colonists too. That doesn't make it any less dangerous however! Dangers lurk (literally) just beneath the surface in some places. The creepers are not the only threat, and the colonists are only just realizing that they have explored so little of the planet that it could represent an overall fatal end to their whole endeavor to fling the light of human consciousness further into the void!

I won't spoil anything because this is one book you simply have to read. I'll just say we get lots of action, and plenty of high minded philosophy just like the first novel. I genuinely love how much thought gets put into the situations our characters are in. They assess their options and (rarely) go in shooting as a first resort. Mickey himself thinks on his feet and manages to make the right call, more or less, most of the time.

Amazing sequel to a stellar piece of science fiction. Definitely take the time to read it! I couldn't put it down!

Serpent Sword

Welcome once again to the world of Battle for the Wastelands in the newest installment of Matthew Quinn's epic steampunk fantasy Serpent Sword! Picking up shortly where the first installment left off, the Merrills are fighting hard to drive as fast as they can to the old capital Jacinto so they can stop the rush of Grendel's numerically superior armies and maybe, just maybe, carve out a land where they can be free. Will our heroes manage to keep Grendel on his heels, or will his forces end up grinding the Merrills into the dust?

As a disclaimer, I was given an advance copy for review purposes.

The sequel is undoubtedly more action packed than the initial installment, with a long series of short, sharp, vicious fights that never let me tear my eyes away from the page for too long. It's a huge rollercoaster from start to finish. The action is up front, up close and personal, and more in line with what we'd semi-recognize in the modern world as the two sides, the Merrills now better equipped with Old World weaponry, and the forces of Grendel now better armed with the might of the Northlands behind them, get to grips with one another. In a nice touch, we often see the Merrills trying to conserve all that Old World weaponry, while Grendel can use it with (relative) impunity.

Andrew Sutter is in the thick of the fray this time as some of the hard riding and hard fighting cavalry at the tip of the spear of the rebel advance. He gets some wonderful character building in a few scenes (and some fun with his new squeeze, Alyssa) which helps ground him and the whole rebel struggle. We, mostly, see the action of the war through his eyes as Alonzo Merrill is either politicking, directing strategy, and the big bad Grendel is doing the same.

Speaking of everyone's favorite warlord, Grendel is once again in action. This time he's first picking up the pieces of the now unlamented dead Jasper Clark, formerly of the Flesh Eating Legion. Rebellious generals, unreliable vassals, and tantalizing hints of what lies across the desert are all at the heart of his worries in this volume. Once again I loved reading the villain perspective. His concern for whether his empire will survive, and how it will survive is at the forefront of his musings. He is seriously concerned about how to keep one (or more) of his unruly vassals from turning on him if his military situation goes south. Indeed, he sees the rebellion as more of a distraction than anything else.

That said, he's just as concerned about his impulsive son Falki. With Falki in the fight he still has a stable of concubines and heirs back home, but they're engaged in harem politics of their own. This is another potential headache as the chaos of war may prompt some unwise decisions by them. One in particular, the imprisoned Catalina Merrill, is still scheming and trying to remind her son of his true heritage. 

Catalina is a much more active character in this book. Though she is still imprisoned, she acts out in small ways to try and influence Grendel, whether appealing to his political nature, or by establishing covert links with the resistance in her homeland. Her plot was quite thrilling to read here as it has all the hallmarks of a spy thriller, but also shows just how villainous Grendel can be. In one memorable scene he calmly talks about destroying the remnants of her family and subjecting her people to a cruel rule, only to ride in as a savior on a white horse and free them from the very oppression he forced on them. It was a very cold and calculating plan, and Grendel's villainous impulses are so well written by Quinn that I loved any scene Grendel was in because of it.

The action too, of course, cannot be faulted. From fighting armored trains, battles with mutants, and the delightful use of language to establish the setting, we have some unique scenes. For me, the most visceral came when the Blood Alchemy Host, one of Grendel's more disturbing band of allies and literal monsters, got involved. It raised the stakes considerably, and had some grim and gruesome connotations. Let's just say, weasels are not fun when they grow past a certain size!

With the Merrills outnumbered and outgunned though, they must resort to desperate measures to try and win a peace on their terms. Hence the name of the book itself. I won't give away any spoilers, but for fans of The Romanov Rescue by Tom Kratman, you'll definitely see something you like in this book! From start to finish Quinn is clever in his use of the technology in his world, and all the ways it can be exploited against the enemy!

Definitely worth checking out, and please go out and support Matthew Quinn with this excellent new steampunk series!