Patrick's Past Reviews

Thomas awakes in a lift. He has no memory except for his name. Every month a new boy is likewise delivered. None remember their previous lives. All they know is the Glade, a square of land surrounded by too-high stone walls. Walls with huge doors that open in the morning and close at night. Doors to the Maze. No one wants to be caught in the Maze after dark. Night is when the grievers come. Every day Runners search the Maze for the way out, and every evening they return without the answer. Thomas knows he's destined to be a Runner. He doesn't know why. He knows ... something ... if he could just remember. The day after his arrival, another newbie is delivered, the last newbie ... the first and only girl. She's the last one. Ever. Something about this girl is familiar, but again Thomas just can't remember. Everything is going to change.

The Maze Runner is excellent YA fiction at its page-turning best. An awesome story with many facets. Lord of the Flies. Dune. The Prisoner. Logan's Run. THX 1138. Ender's Game. Total Recall. The Truman Show. Deepwater Black. The Matrix. Harry Potter. Dark City. The Cube. The Island. Idlewild. The Forgotten. Lost. The Hunger Games. The action drives the story and keeps the pages flying and the characters are so real that they often jump off of those flying pages. Group A, Stage 1 complete. Good that.

-- PMH

On his 27th birthday, Alex meets the girl of his dreams, almost gets killed, and gets a special birthday present ... an inheritance really ... from his grandfather. Then the really interesting stuff starts to happen. I'd love to tell you more, but to do so might ruin it for you. Trouble will find you.

How do we categorize this? It's not exactly fantasy or sf; it's not exactly a thriller either. Hell, it's not exactly anything ... except good. The "other world" Goodkind writes about will seem quite familiar to anyone who's ever read a Goodkind novel, but this is the beginning of a completely new series and perfect for someone looking for something fresh. Having read it, however, you Goodkind newbies may find you have an irresistible urge to read his previous works while you wait for this series to continue. Enjoy.

-- PMH

Prepare to have your Epic Fantasy turned on its ear ... and then some. Take your Jordan, your Goodkind, your Martin and Erikson, and then bend the tropes until their tendons pop. You're halfway to Morgan. Add sex of all kinds, a drug or two, and not a small amount of violence. The rest of the journey's yours. Vicious, visceral, oh MG yes.

• Ringil, hero of Gallows Gap, veteran brimming with barely suppressed rage. His childhood and orientation are the main sources of the fury that propels him.
• The Lady Archeth, half-Kiriath, half-human, warrior, magician. Half-Kiriath, yes, but just as abandoned by the Kiriath as the rest of the lands.
• Egar, Dragonbane, barbarian chieftain of the Majak. Top of his game, yes, but bored to tears. How you gonna keep Egar down on the steppe once he's seen the Empire?

Heroes all of the war against the Scaled Folk. Each shaped by the battles they fought and by their Kiriath comrades. To these, and the men and women like them, the lands owe their supposed freedom. The Kiriath are gone though, and our heroes' deeds are all but forgotten in a land of moral and religious righteousness. What's to become of them? What's to become of all when evil returns? And how can they possibly prevail without the Kiriath?

The Kiriath are gone, yes, but their steel remains.

-- PMH

Starts simple enough: Terrorist group Autumn Rain takes down the Phoenix Space Elevator. Simple? Hardly. Who could possibly destroy something supposedly impossible to destroy? And who is Autumn Rain, really? Not your average terrorist group, oh no. Way too organized and technologically sophisticated to be Third World. Suspicions run riot. Was it the East? Was it a faction within our own government? Now it’s up to our heroes to take Autumn Rain down. But things are a bit different in the 22nd Century. People too. Razors and Mechs and Handlers, oh my. We’re on the threshold, people, and Rain’s gonna fall. Big-time. Think multiple-viewpoint Richard Morgan mixed with a bit of William Gibson ... on speed.

-- PMH