Fantasy 07

File Updated: 29/01/2008

Tangled Web UK: New Fantasy Titles 07

Mary Gentle Ilario: The Lion's Eye Pbk published December 2007 by Gollancz at Ł8.99 ISBN: 0575080418

Return to the world of ASH
The First History
It’s AD 1428 and history is different.
Born a true hermaphrodite, Ilario has lived as the King’s Freak in a minor Iberian kingdom. All Ilario wants is to be one of the first - and best - painters of the age, not to paint symbols, or metaphors, but - shockingly - to paint things as they really are. But the universe has other ideas.
The mother who gave birth to llario will kill to keep that secret. So, it seems, will the rest of Ilario’s family ... so Death pursues llario across the Mediterranean - as do ghost ships, golems, assassins, artists, printers and spies.
Along the way, llario meets new friends, like the retired mercenary general Honorius, and Rekhmire, a less-than-scholarly eunuch book-buyer for the Library of Alexandria. Which is just as well, because llario is going to need all the friends available: Videric, the King’s councillor, is a lasting enemy, and empires may fall before his revenge is complete ...
In North Africa, Visigoth-ruled Carthage lies under the eternal darkness of the Penitence. Rome’s papal chair has stood empty for centuries. The Turks loom threateningly in the east. Constantinople is held by the last scions of an ancient race. Ilario: The Lion’s Eye is a stand-alone novel set in the universe of Ash: A Secret History.
‘There’s no beating Mary Gentle’ Rhianna Pratchett, SFX
`A welcome and enigmatic addition to a writer with vision who still has the power to shock and amaze’ SFF World
‘Action-packed, deeply intelligent’ Time Out
‘ASH ... A thoughtful swashbuckler in which history and myth and the evidence that divides them constantly melt and crumble under our feet’ Good Book GuideThousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Simon R. Green The Man with The Golden Torc: Screen Histories 1 Published May 2007 by Gollancz at Ł18.99 ISBN: 057507938X
Shaman Bond: A Very Secret Agent
You know what? It’s all true. Everything that ever scared you, -from conspiracy theories to monsters under the bed to ghosties & ghoulies & long-leggity beasties. The only reason they haven’t taken over the world yet is because my family has always been there to stand in their way. We guard the door, keeping you safe from the big bad wolf, and you never even know our names. Of course, there’s a price to be paid. By us, and by you…
The username's Bond. Shaman Bond. Licensed to kick supernatural arse.
And Bond - real name Eddie Drood - comes from one of the oldest families in England, a family that has been protecting Humanity from the forces of darkness for more centuries than anyone can even remember.
And Eddie Drood loved his job - until the day it all blew up in his face ...
The Man with the Golden Torc is the first of the Secret Histories: a fast-paced roller-coaster ride through the Dark Side.
‘A theme park ride, seat-of-the-pants writing, with larger-than-life characters and exaggerated situations. You’ll step off exhilarated and a little dizzy, but you’ll be aware that you had a pretty good time’ SFRevu
‘Green has a marvellous gift of leavening grim situations with wicked wit and sly nods to current mores. Fine stuff’ Prism
‘Green’s books are fun books that grab you, suck you in and don’t let you go’ The SFSite

About The Author
Simon Green is the author of five previous Deahstalker titles, as well as, amongst others, the Hawk and Fisher novels and Blue Moon rising. He lives in Wiltshire. Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Robert Holdstock Mythago Wood Published February 2007 by Gollancz at Ł14.99 ISBN: 0575079703

Deep within the wildwood lies a place of myth and mystery, from which few return, and none remain unchanged ...

Ryhope Wood may look like a three-mile-square piece of woodland in rural Herefordshire ton the outside, but inside, it is a primeval, intricate labyrinth of trees, impossibly huge, unforgettable ... and stronger than time itself.
Stephen Huxley has already lost his father to the mysteries of Ryhope Wood. On his return from the Second World War, he finds that his brother Christopher is also in thrall Its this remnant of forest, wherein lies a realm where mythic archetypes grow flesh and blood, where love and beauty haunt your dreams, and in promises of freedom lies the sanctuary of insanity ...
Mythago Wood, winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Grand Prix de l.’Imaginaire, is a haunting masterpiece from one of the world’s finest living crafters of myth.

About The Author
Robert Holdstock shared his childhood years between the bleak Romney Marsh and the dense woods of the Kentish heartlands. After several years of research in the field of medical zoology, he became a full-time writer of science fiction and fantasy in 1975. He lives in London, but escapes to the forests whenever possible.
Mythago Wood won the World Fantasy Award and was heralded by Alan Garner as ‘A new expression of the British genius for true fantasy’, and by the New York Times as ’beautifully written and conceived ... hard to shake off’. Lavondyss won the BSFA Award and was described by the Independent as ’Magical ... it is rare to find a sequel which measures up to its original; but Lavondyss surpasses it.’ His most recent Mythago novel, Gate of Ivory, received this praise from John Clute in the Washington Post: ‘Holdstock is the finest writer of metamorphic fantasy now working. This is a tale out of his heartwood’. And in Locus as ‘At once comic, tragic, gory, astounding...’ Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Robert Holdstock The Broken Kings Published January 2007 by Gollancz at Ł14.99 ISBN: 0575079304
The Merlin Codex 3
The death of vengeance is the most beautiful death of all.
All the signs are that the hill below the fortress of Taurovinda, stronghold of Urtha, High King of the Cornovidi, is coming alive in a way that signals danger from the west, from the Otherworldly realm of the Shadows of Heroes. They claim the land as their own.
But this time their actions are driven by a force that is darker and older than even the oldest among the ghosts. Who or what is raising the Dead? Merlin must answer that question if this time of kings and lovers is to be saved; his quest for the truth will take him back in history, and to a fabled island of legend.
Jason’s wonderful ship, Argo, has returned, drawn back by her own guilty past, and a dreadful secret that she will reveal only to Merlin. Could Argo hold the key to the mystery?
And all the while, Niiv, the bewitching, beautiful Northlands enchantress, is working her way even deeper into Merlin’s charms. Love is in the air. But at a price.
In this third volume of the Merlin Codex, Robert Holdstock weaves myth and history into a fabulous tale of honour, vengeance and magic. At its centre, moving along his never-ending path, is Merlin himself, an enchanter in the prime of his life, feckless, curious, powerful, yet a stranger to his own past - and a man about find a true and honourable use for his talents.
'A new expression of the British genius for true fantasy' Alan Garner
‘One of Britain’s best fantasists… a myth-maker of originality’ The Times
'One of the finest living crafters of myth' Publishers Weekly

About The Author
Robert Holdstock shared his childhood years between the bleak Romney Marsh and the dense woods of the Kentish heartlands. After several years of research in the field of medical zoology, he became a full-time writer of science fiction and fantasy in 1975. He lives in London, but escapes to the forests whenever possible.
Mythago Wood won the World Fantasy Award and was heralded by Alan Garner as ‘A new expression of the British genius for true fantasy’, and by the New York Times as ’beautifully written and conceived ... hard to shake off’. Lavondyss won the BSFA Award and was described by the Independent as ’Magical ... it is rare to find a sequel which measures up to its original; but Lavondyss surpasses it.’ His most recent Mythago novel, Gate of Ivory, received this praise from John Clute in the Washington Post: ‘Holdstock is the finest writer of metamorphic fantasy now working. This is a tale out of his heartwood’. And in Locus as ‘At once comic, tragic, gory, astounding...’ Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Robert Holdstock The Iron Grail Pbk published January 2007 by Gollancz at Ł7.99 ISBN: 0575079746

Book Two of the Merlin Codex

The first is a man who needs you and will use you. He will weaken you dangerously. The second is a man you betrayed, though you believe otherwise. He wishes to kill you and can do so easily. The third is a ship that is more than a ship. She grieves and broods. She will carry you to your grave.’

These three warnings greet Merlin on his return to Alba, the future England, to the deserted fortress of Taurovinda - the Hill of the White bull. He is not the only one making the journey: Urtha, High King of the Cornovidi, is coming home to reclaim his stronghold. And Jason is coming to seek his younger son Kinos, ‘the Little Dreamer’, hiding somewhere in the Celtic kingdom. He sails on Argo, resurrected after seven centuries.
But Urtha’s fortress has been taken by warriors from Ghostland; they claim it as their own. There will be war against the Otherworld.
In this sequel to Celtika, Robert Holdstock weaves myth and history into a fabulous tale of honour, death and magic. The characters take on a life of their own: the mythic champion Jason; Urtha and his vengeful children; the northern sorceress Niiv, hungry for Merlin’s wisdom; and Kinos, Jason’s son, whose appearance is both terrible and tragic. And at the centre, moving along his neverending path, is Merlin himself, an enchanter in the prime of his life, reckless, curious, powerful, yet a stranger to his own past - a past that is catching up with him.
'Robert Holdstock is a powerful mythmaker… [his] prose has a hauntingly powerful energy that leaves you feeling as though you're breathing in myth as if it were a physical substance' The Times
'Quite simply, one of the books of the year' Infinity Plus
‘State-of-the-art “pure fantasy”’ The Face
‘Sonorous, vivid, and utterly enthralling’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Magical’ The Independent
‘Classic yet original’ Guardian
‘Indescribably enchanting’ Spectator
About The Author
Robert Holdstock shared his childhood years between the bleak Romney Marsh and the dense woods of the Kentish heartlands. After several years of research in the field of medical zoology, he became a full-time writer of science fiction and fantasy in 1975. He lives in London, but escapes to the forests whenever possible.
Mythago Wood won the World Fantasy Award and was heralded by Alan Garner as ‘A new expression of the British genius for true fantasy’, and by the New York Times as ’beautifully written and conceived ... hard to shake off’. Lavondyss won the BSFA Award and was described by the Independent as ’Magical ... it is rare to find a sequel which measures up to its original; but Lavondyss surpasses it.’ His most recent Mythago novel, Gate of Ivory, received this praise from John Clute in the Washington Post: ‘Holdstock is the finest writer of metamorphic fantasy now working. This is a tale out of his heartwood’. And in Locus as ‘At once comic, tragic, gory, astounding...’ Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Robert Holdstock Celtika Pbk published January 2007 by Gollancz at Ł7.99 ISBN: 0575079738

Book One of the Merlin Codex
Centuries before he meets Arthur, Merlin wanders the Earth, eternally young, a traveller on the path of magic and learning. During his journeys he encounters Jason, whose search for the Golden Fleece he joins. It is a decision that will cost him dear...
Hundreds of years later, Merlin hears of a screaming ship in a northern lake and divines that it is the Argo, and that Jason still screams out for his sons, stolen by the enchantress Medea, and thought dead. But death is not the end, and Merlin’s trek to the north leads to the revival of both man and ship, and a new quest, with new companions - to find Jason’s sons.
Celtika begins The Merlin Codex, a new series from Robert Holdstock, Britain’s premier author of the fantastical. Roving from the frozen north to the blighted and ghostly island which will become Arthur’s realm, from the deep forests familiar to Holdstock’s readers from his Award-winning Mythago Wood and Lavondyss to the ancient sanctuaries of Greece, Merlin’s journeying is rich with incident, character and history. Celtika mines a deep vein of epic tale, mystery and enchantment.
'He has taken a legend and made it his own' Enigma
‘Highly recommended’ Interzone
‘A complex, intelligent fantasy’ SFX
‘A fascinating start to a highly original series’ Starburst
‘Holdstock has a beautifully subtle imagination that conjures up worlds and events with enviable ease… a writer of both heart and fire’ Peter F. Hamilton
‘Our finest living mythmaker. His narratives – intense, exuberant, earthy, passionate, dense with metaphor – are new trails through the ancient forest of our imaginations. An essential writer’ Stephen Baxter
‘No other author has so successfully captured the magic of the wildwood’ Michael Moorcock
‘Rob Holdstock’s is one of the voices at the very heart of modern fantasy’ Guy Gavriel Kay
About The Author
Robert Holdstock shared his childhood years between the bleak Romney Marsh and the dense woods of the Kentish heartlands. After several years of research in the field of medical zoology, he became a full-time writer of science fiction and fantasy in 1975. He lives in London, but escapes to the forests whenever possible.
Mythago Wood won the World Fantasy Award and was heralded by Alan Garner as ‘A new expression of the British genius for true fantasy’, and by the New York Times as ’beautifully written and conceived ... hard to shake off’. Lavondyss won the BSFA Award and was described by the Independent as ’Magical ... it is rare to find a sequel which measures up to its original; but Lavondyss surpasses it.’ His most recent Mythago novel, Gate of Ivory, received this praise from John Clute in the Washington Post: ‘Holdstock is the finest writer of metamorphic fantasy now working. This is a tale out of his heartwood’. And in Locus as ‘At once comic, tragic, gory, astounding...’ Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Robert Holdstock The Mythago Cycle - Volume 2 Pbk published October 2007 by Gollancz at Ł14.99 ISBN: 057507972X

Ryhope Wood holds ancient secrets and memories from legend and history, both real and imagined, that take on physical form. Known as mythagos, they are unpredictable and dangerous. Ryhope Wood is ancient, sentient, and it has its own agenda: it calls to those who have an aptitude for creating mythagos to constantly refresh itself. And it has its own formidable defences, to keep out those who would bring its mysteries out into the light of day.
Alex Bradley is a damaged, visionary child, but he has no idea that the distorted creatures of his mind are alive inside nearby Ryhope Wood until he is summoned by the strange forest. Like so many others before him, he disappears into the green depths, but the frightened child’s vivid fantasies are so powerful that the forest itself starts changing.
As a young boy, Christian Huxley watched his father’s obsession with Ryhope Wood change to madness. He witnessed his mother’s suicide after a horde of questing warriors broke out of the wood and into their home. Now a young man back from the Second World War, he is drawn into the wood, where a series of dangerous quests, a heart-breaking love affair and the most difficult decision of his life lead him to the Gates of Ivory and Horn, the gates of truth and lie.
The Hollowing and Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn continue the story of Mythago Wood one of the most magical and unforgettable fantasy landscapes ever imagined.
`A new expression of the British genius for true fantasy’ Alan Garner
`One of Britain’s best fantasists’ The Times
`The finest writer of metamorphic fantasy now working’ Washington Post Book World
About The Author
Robert Holdstock shared his childhood years between the bleak Romney Marsh and the dense woods of the Kentish heartlands. After several years of research in the field of medical zoology, he became a full-time writer of science fiction and fantasy in 1975. He lives in London, but escapes to the forests whenever possible.
Mythago Wood won the World Fantasy Award and was heralded by Alan Garner as ‘A new expression of the British genius for true fantasy’, and by the New York Times as ’beautifully written and conceived ... hard to shake off’. Lavondyss won the BSFA Award and was described by the Independent as ’Magical ... it is rare to find a sequel which measures up to its original; but Lavondyss surpasses it.’ His most recent Mythago novel, Gate of Ivory, received this praise from John Clute in the Washington Post: ‘Holdstock is the finest writer of metamorphic fantasy now working. This is a tale out of his heartwood’. And in Locus as ‘At once comic, tragic, gory, astounding...’ Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Guy Gavriel Kay Ysabel Published March 2007 by Simon & Schuster at Ł18.99 ISBN: 0 7432 5250 0
From the ruins and vineyards of Provence, an ancient mystery emerges

`Everyone comes from somewhere else ... ‘

` Ned Marriner is spending six weeks with his father in France, where the celebrated photographer is shooting Saint-Sauveur Cathedral in Aix-en-Provence. While exploring the cathedral, Ned encounters Kate Wenger, an American exchange student with a deep knowledge of the area’s history. But even Kate is at a loss when she and Ned surprise a scar-faced stranger, carrying a knife, deep inside the cathedral. `I think you ought to go now,’ he tells them. `You have blundered into the corner of a very old story . .’
In this ancient place, where the borders between the living and the long-dead are blurred, Ned and his family are about to be drawn into a strange and haunting tale, as mythic figures from conflicts of long ago erupt into the present, changing - and claiming - lives.
Praise for The Last Light of the Sun
‘Kay uses his historical-fantasy environment to illuminate themes as compelling and relevant to the reader as they are to the characters: family, exile, faith and finding one’s place… Blending history, myth and fantasy into a seamless poetic whole, The Last Light of the Sun is an accomplished and truly evocative novel’ SFX
Praise For Tigana
`A huge book, packed with action, I enjoyed it all’ The Times
‘A truly remarkable achievement’ Tim Binding
‘One of the best fantasy novels I have read’ Anne McCaffrey

About The Author
Guy Gavriel Kay was born and raised in Canada, although he does most of his writing in Europe. He worked with Christopher Tolkien on J.R.R. Tolkien's great posthumous work, The Simarillion. Since then he has written seven world-wide best-selling novels. Kay lives in Toronto, Canada where he is a Number One best-seller. Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Paul Kearney The Sea Beggars: This Forsaken Earth Pbk published July 2007 by Bantam at Ł7.99 ISBN: 0553813757

No-one can outrun their past, as Rol Cortishane discovers when his old acquaintance in murder - Canker, King of Thieves - turns up unannounced to make Rol an offer that cannot be refused.
To safeguard the hidden pirate city that has become his home and refuge, Cortishane, together with three trusted crew members, must now leave behind his beloved ship, Revenant, and take to the mountains of Bionar. For there his estranged half-sister Rowen is locked in a life-and-death struggle to keep possession of the mightiest kingdom in all the world - and she has need of him. Facing siege, pitched battle and the most brutal of betrayals, Cortishane will discover that his world is not the place he thought it was. In order to survive, he must relearn the skills of the assassin. To win, he must allow free rein to the darker blood that burns within his veins…
'One of the very best writers of fantasy around' Steven Erikson
‘A terrific writer, one of the best currently working in epic fantasy ... his peers are Martin, Erikson and Bakker’ Paul Witcover, SciFi.com
‘His prose roars along like a riptide and he delivers plot broadsides with panache’ Jon Courtney Grimwood, Guardian
‘One of the very best British writers of hard-edged visceral, gritty fantasy’ alienonline
About The Author
Paul Kearney was born and grew up in Northern Ireland. He lived for some years in Copenhagen, then spent two years in America before returning to Britain in 1998. He and his wife and a Jack Russell terrier now live in a village near Cambridge.
As well as the first three books in The Monarchies of God saga, Hawkwood's Voyage, The Heretic Kings and The Iron Wars, Paul Kearney is the author of The Way to Babylon, Different Kingdom, and Riding the Unicorn, all published by Victor Gollancz. Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Kaoru Kurimoto The Leopard Mask Pbk published June 2007 by Vertical at Ł6.99 ISBN: 1932234810

The Guin Saga: Book One
Translated by Alexander O. Smith with Elye J. Alexander
Book Sense Science Fiction and Fantasy Top Ten of the Year
With more than a hundred installments and going strong-each new book a bestseller- The Guin Saga is Japan’s top heroic fantasy series. Finally available in paperback, the much-praised American edition of The Leopard Mask is the first of a projected five comprising the saga’s opening ‘Marches Episode.’
In a single day and night of fierce fighting, the Archduchy of Mongaul has overrun its elegant neighbor, Parros. The lost priest kingdom’s surviving royalty, the young twins Rinda and Remus, hide in a forest in the forbidding wild Marches. There they are saved by a mysterious creature with a man’s body and a leopard’s head who has just emerged from a deep sleep and remembers only his name. Guin.
‘Japan’s answer to The Lord of the Rings’ - The Globe and Mail
‘A rousing tale of intrepid heroes, horrid villains and wicked supernatural creatures.’ Publishers Weekly
‘The Guin Saga was the most influential (inspiration for Berserk]. I started reading it in junior high and I’m still reading the new volume every month.’ Berserk-creator Kentaro Miura
About The Author
Kaoru Kurimoto, winner of the Edogawa Rampo and Yoshikawa Eiji Awards, lives in Tokyo, Japan. Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Glenda Larke Heart of the Mirage Pbk published August 2007 by Orbit at Ł7.99 ISBN: 184149609X

This is a story of treachery: my treachery and the treachery of those who betrayed me. It is the story of mirages, and of those who made them. It is my story.
Stolen from her people as a child and raised as a citizen of the Tyranian Empire, Ligea Gayed is the obvious choice to despatch to her homeland, occupied Kardiastan, with orders to root out a rebel conspiracy.
At first, she devotes herself to her new assignment with zeal. Adopted daughter of the Empire’s greatest general, and possessing a fearsome reputation within the ruthless Imperial spy network known as the Brotherhood, Ligea views herself as a loyal servant of Tyrans. But blood will out, and with each day she spends among her parents’ people, her disciplined self-image crumbles a little.
And there are secrets in Kardiastan, secrets that will inevitably force Ligea to choose between her upbringing and her birthright. Secrets that will shape the destiny of two nations ...
‘Exciting, robust adventure. Glenda Larke is a fabulous writer’ Kate ElliottThousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
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Tom Lloyd Twilight Herald Published July 2007 by Gollancz at Ł18.99 ISBN: 057507728X
Lord Bahl is dead and the young white eye, Isak, stands in his place. Less than a year after being plucked from poverty and obscurity, the charismatic new Lord of the Farlan finds himself unprepared to deal with an assassination attempt that spells war, and hints at a rebellion waiting for him at home ...
... but first he has to deal with Scree. A minor city suffering from an unnatural summer drought, Scree is surrounded by mercenary armies and, as elite soldiers clash after dark and actors perform subversive plays which work their way into the heart’s of the audience, the city begins to tear itself apart.
There’s a malevolent, manipulative and vicious will at work in Scree, and it’s going to show the Land that nothing lies beyond the reach of a shadow, no matter how great a man’s power.
The Twilight Herald is the sequel to the bestselling The Stormcaller, a powerful series that combines inspired world-building, epoch-shattering battles and high emotion to dazzling effect.
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