Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

Readers unfamiliar with 2006’s Trial of Flowers will be baffled by this sequel; those who have read the former are likely to be both delighted and flabbergasted by the latter. The City Imperishable is the decadent relic of a magical empire in which human and numinal forces struggled until the Old Gods were almost forgotten—but this familiar-sounding background doesn’t set up a predictable heroic fantasy yarn. The city’s diverse inhabitants, including demigods and manmade dwarves, are subject to violent physical and moral transformations, and Lake’s lushly energetic writing pulls readers through startling developments. Major concerns this time include bloody political intrigue, a blockade by corsairs and an expedition to the North that may lead to the city’s rebirth or its doom. The result is exuberantly odd, melodramatically ironic and dangerously wonderful. –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Flesh and Fire: Book One of The Vineart War

In a world once ruled by mage-princes who nearly destroyed it, magic now resides in the hands of the Vineart Masters, who have the ability to cast spells through wine of their own making. When an unknown evil threatens to destroy the vines, the key to saving the world lies in the magic of Vineart apprentice Jerzy, provided he can learn to break centuries-old traditions.

VERDICT This launch of a new trilogy by the author of the Retrievers urban fantasies (Blood from Stone) achieves an extraordinary power from its elegant storytelling and unique magical philosophy. Offering one of the most original approaches to fantasy adventure; highly recommended for all fantasy fans. –Library Journal, Starred Review

Vigilante: A Major Ariane Kedros Novel

Thanks to an intriguing ensemble cast and their varied takes on the nicely complex universe, readers who missed 2008’s Peacekeeper will find it easy to catch up in this entertaining second military SF adventure for Ariane Kedros, a secret agent of the Consortium of Autonomous Worlds. Kedros and her pilot, Matt Journey, are co-opted into transporting CAW Master Sergeant Joyce to system G-145, home to an anomaly of interest to multiple parties, including the mysterious alien Minoans and the Terran Expansion League. When terrorists arrive with a stolen temporal-distortion bomb, seeking vengeance for perceived wrongs of the past, alliances form and shift as the tension mounts. Reeve immediately immerses the reader in her universe’s vernacular, acronyms and backstory, an approach most rewarding to those who are versed in learning from context. –Publishers Weekly

At Home on Ladybug Farm

Proving true friendship can create fierce family ties, Ball’s exceptional sequel to 2009’s A Year on Ladybug Farm updates the trials, tribulations and triumphs of three single women of a certain age struggling to renovate Blackwell Farms, a rundown Virginia estate. A year has passed since Lindsay Wright, Cici Burke and Bridget Tindale arrived from Baltimore to live on the farm. Adding joy and sometimes frustration to the household are crusty old housekeeper Ida Mae; Cici’s 20-year-old daughter Lori, who doesn’t want to return to college in California; and Noah Clete, a fatherless 15-year-old Lindsay wants to adopt. Ball’s bright examination of their efforts to rehab a place that was burned down during the Civil War, rebuilt, and then served as a winery, a home for WWII military wives and a creamery known for its cheeses, is absolutely delectable. Injecting extra zing are Ball’s fascinating flashbacks, while Noah’s transformation from misfit to responsible teen is another sweet note in this entertaining treatise of how love overcomes adversity. — Publishers Weekly

Canticle (The Psalms of Isaak)

The conspiracy deepens in this sequel to Scholes’ epic, marvelously complex fantasy debut (Lamentation, 2009).

In the previous installment, ancient spells of the Wizard King Xhum Y’Zir leveled the city of Windwir, repository of knowledge from the Old World. The instigator of the destruction, a Y’Zirite cult, reveals itself as the sequel opens by assassinating several major political figures, an act which the cult sees as the necessary prelude to the advent of its prophesied Crimson Empress. As civil war spreads across the Named Lands, nobleman schemer Vlad Li Tam and his extensive family search for the stronghold of their foe; the Gypsy King Rudolfo seeks a cure for his ailing infant son Jakob, heralded by Y’Zirites as the Child of Promise; Windwir survivor and prophetic dreamer Neb seeks his destiny in the Churning Wastes; and his beloved, the young Marsh Queen Winters, faces the unpleasant, deadly truth that the Y’Zirite cult sprang from her own people. Not only is Scholes a capable world builder, he ably handles the tough task of keeping the series momentum going, intensifying the mystery so deftly that even if readers can’t foresee where the story’s going, it’s clear that the author knows exactly what he’s doing.

— Kirkus, Starred Review