C. S. Friedman

There are a couple of things I really loved about this book. First is the fact that Friedman never withholds information about her world just for the sake of creating suspense or avoiding exposition or whatever other excuse too many fantasy writers use to keep their readers in a state of complete befuddlement. Friedman tells us right off the bat that Magister power is derived by draining the lifeforce from other human beings. Any other author would have dragged that out for chapters and chapters, dropping tantalizing hints and ominous foreshadowing. But Friedman is more interested in examining the way that the source of their power affects Magisters, and how they differ from witches, who must drain their own life force to use magic. It's a fascinating system, and one that sets up complex moral and ethical issues, which are explored sympathetically and in depth.

The second thing I loved is that there is no "hero" in this story. No starry-eyed youth coming of age; no hard-bitten veteran called back to fight a final battle; no hidden prince discovering his destiny. There is a protagonist, sure. There are victims and opportunists, bad people who do good things and good people who do bad things. Perhaps unfortunately, there is an easily identifiable bad guy, complete with a requisite army of minions set to Take Over the World. But who will stand against him, who will sit this one out, and who will throw their hat into the ring of eeeevil? For that matter, given that a fairly important character dies in this book, who will still be left to even fight the final battle? I don't know, and I love it.
This is fantasy at its best. Friedman asks you to think, to withhold judgment, to put yourself in her characters' shoes and ask yourself honestly what you would do. There's a point to be made here, and she does it elegantly, subtly, and with a razor-sharp edge. I can't wait for the rest of this series.… (plus d'informations)

The story seems to be reasonably interesting, but this book is not pulling me in. I read in one of the other reviews that the reviewer had problems connecting to the main character, and I have the same thing. It shouldn't have been so hard; despite the fact that she doesn't care that using her power kills someone I think there should be enough to like. She is determined, strong and she does care about people (despite the spoiler). But I can't really care anyway, and I don't feel like spending more time on it, so I stopped halfway through.… (plus d'informations)

There is no need to read the first of C.S. Friedman's Outworld books to read an enjoy this second installment. This Virtual Night follows extraordinary game designer Micah Bello as he tries to escape being framed for a terrorist attack on the Harmony Node space station. Eventually he teams up with Ru Gaya, mercenary, explorer and adrenaline junkie sent to find the source of a signal associated with the attack. Their search for the real source of the attack and the motive behind it sends them through a ruined Terran corporate-owned station, a ramshackle station of out-law "scavs", and eventually back to Harmony Node.

Micah's skill as a game designer is not only used to solve many a problem, but the whole story has some feel of a well designed action game. It reads quickly and the two protagonists move quickly from fight to puzzle to backstory to brief RPG and back to more action sequences with twinges of horror & survival. The villain is nebulous and fairly unimportant as long as the sense of menace remains palpable enough to motivate the pair (and the reader).

And just like a good video game doesn't require you to play the original to enjoy the next installment, it also doesn't hurt to have read This Alien Shore. And some comparisons are inevitable.

The history of human expansion into the universe via the Hausman Drive, the consequences, and the ongoing re-unification by Guerans and The Guild are briefly explained all of the variations are just mentioned in passing. The details of Gueran society are hinted at but not explored or explained in any depth. Which is a shame, since the same chapter headings with little poetic descriptions of the Gueran Kaja from This Alien Shore are also present in This Virtual Night but have much less impact without the context.

Micah's own variation is hardly discussed, all of the antagonists on the ruined station are Terran, the default assumption for the scavs is human, and the ones that aren't are just given brief physical descriptions. Compared to a scene in This Alien Shore where a Medusan smuggler & his crewmates are described in great detail physically, mentally and emotionally the variants is This Virtual Night are just window-dressing.

This Virtual Night is quick and entertaining but compared to the slow build and detailed exploration of a novel universe of This Alien Shore it is thin and overshadowed.… (plus d'informations)